Forgotten Legends
by Sightbent
Summary: With the reemergence of a long lost continent in the Digital World the Digidestined have set out to discover its connection to recent troubling events happening in the real and digital world, but in doing so they will stumble across long forgotten legends and a chaos that has waited a long time to engulf both worlds. 02x04
1. Out Towards the Frontier

**Chapter 1**

**Out Towards the Frontier**

"Ugghhh…" Kari groaned painfully as she awoke. She slowly sat up feeling her hands sink into the soft surface beneath her, which she had been laying upon for an unknown span of time. But she really couldn't think about anything other than how much of a welcome change it was to the hard surface she remembered falling unconscious on. Tiredly her eyes wandered down to the soft surface. It was a soft thick crimson fabric with some kind of cushioning under it. Her eyes slowly moved out from her hand to four square corners on each side and a mixed pile of soft crimson, black, and gold pillows behind her.

"A bed…?" Kari stated with a hazy confusion. It was a very large and fluffy bed completely draped in crimson silk sheets and amenities. Turning her legs to the side she slowly began to scoot her way across the bed until her legs were hanging over the edge. Once she had reached the edge she slowly slid off the side until her feet hit the warm stones of the floor. Instantly her attention shot down to her bare feet. Where there had once been a well wore pair of pink sneakers there was nothing but a few pairs of beautiful golden bracelets attached around her ankles.

"Where did my shoes… My clothes…?" However her shoes weren't the only thing that had changed, her entire outfit was different. Gone were the normal clothes she wore during every visit to the Digital World, and in their stead was a long flowing dress. The dress itself fell over her in three different layers; white on the inside, then orange in the middle, and last red on the outside. Each of the soft layers felt like it was made of the finest quality silk. The dress came down over one shoulder, leaving the other bare, and ran over her chest. It was tightened at her waist by a series of golden belts with very intricate winding designs. From there it dropped down to a few inches short of her ankles exchanging and intertwining the three colors the whole way down. A slit up the right side ran back up the dress to a few inches short of her hip; leaving room for her to easily move her legs. The dress was a work somewhere between the tradition garb found in India and Chinese formal wear.

"Beautiful…" She said in awe as she inspected dress. The dress looked amazing on her blossoming teenage body. Every inch of it conformed to her every curve with perfect form. Looking at her now it was hard to see the cute little eleven-year-old she had once been under the voluptuous sixteen-year-old she had become. She took hold of the lower half and pulled it outwards to get a better view, as she did she felt the jingle of more golden bracelets as they slid down her arm to her wrist. Never in her life had she imaged she would be wearing something so beautiful and expensive. But the real question was how she got into it; and why was she wearing it.

Turning her attention back to the situation at hand she began to scan her surroundings. She was in a rather large room. It was more than twice the size of her family's whole apartment and completely crafted out of gray stone and mortar. Besides from the large bed which sat in the middle of the room on top of a large crimson and gold carpet there was other furniture. There was also a large wooden wardrobe, a desk, several couches and chairs, rows of bookshelves, and a few tables. Before her was a large wooden vanity table with a silver mirror framed with an intricate golden design. The chair that sat before it was also made of the same dark brown wood and cushioned with a crimson fabric; like the material the bed sheets were made of.

Walking over to the mirror Kari began checking her appearance in its reflective surface. The first things she noticed was that her shoulder length brown hair was combed and her bangs were being held back by a golden tiara encrusted with ruby insets. Next her eyes moved down to her face. She was now wearing make-up and whoever had done it had done a really good job. There was crimson eye shadow and dark black eyeliner; and her lips were painted with bright rouge. The look made are crimson eyes seem as if they were burning.

She continued to inspect each object until her eyes fell upon the large fire place across from the foot of the bed. In its hearth a roaring fire filled the room with it bright moving light. But it wasn't the fire that attracted the girl's attention. It was the large flag that hung over it. The banner was a deep crimson color with a black symbol stitched into it. The symbol started out as a single line at the top with two smaller line segments on each side. Halfway down the middle line split into two and arched downwards.

"The Flame Emperor…" Kari stated as the events of the past few days came rushing back to her.

* * *

"What do you mean by a part of the Digital World we've never seen before?" Davis gawked as if this claim was beyond belief.

"It's just as I've said Davis. It's a part of the Digital World none of you have ever set foot on." Gennai explained. He hadn't expected the Digidestine to be as surprised by this news as they were.

"Are we talking about an island or something small we could have easily overlooked?" Tai asked finding it hard to image that they could have missed something during all of their travels.

"No. It's actually quite large." Gennai noted looking over the twelve Digidestine gathered before him before he continued. "It's called Network Continent. And it makes up over sixty percent of the Digital Worlds total landmass." He added. With this news the Digidestine just stared at him in disbelief. How could they have only seen less then forty percent of the Digital World considering all the time they had spent there, let alone not know that such a massive continent existed?

"How is that possible? I've looked over maps of the Digital World many times and I've never seen a Network Continent on any of them." Izzy questioned as he brought up his maps, checking them over to see if he could have possibly missed something.

"Due to an extremely powerful barrier around the continent it became completely inaccessible from the outside. The barrier remained for so long that Network Continent faded into legend and was completely forgotten." Gennai explained. All around him the humans and digimon alike tried to image how a world could forget about such a large piece of land. "The barrier was actually so strong that it prevented it from getting involved in any of the incidents the Digital World faced. It seems that even Myotismon and the Dark Masters were unaware of its existence."

"You mean while all that chaos befell the Digital World this Network Continent was completely unaffected." TK asked. Gennai just gave him a nod in response.

"Luck them." Tai sighed while he imaged a part of the Digital World where they wouldn't have had to fear constant attack and danger. "But why are you telling us about it now?" He asked hoping to get to the point of Gennai's story.

"I believe that the strange events as of late are in some way related to the reappearance of this lost continent. And as the Digital Worlds representatives I thought you all would be interested in investigating it." Gennai reasoned.

It had been five years since the Digidestine had defeated MaloMyotismon. At the end of that battle they had returned to Earth to find that many people had been granted their own partner digimon. This had been the start of an era of human and digimon cohabitation on Earth. So with their years of experience the Digidestine had become the Digital Worlds representatives; mediating and speaking on behalf of the Digital World. But all wasn't well. The largest part of the population who had received partners was children, with very few adults getting one. This gap between generations had been the cause of many problems; including rumors of an anti-digimon shadow organization. Being the Digital Worlds representative had also had some effects on the lives of the Digidestine. No longer were they just some anonymous kids. While their identities as the Digital Worlds representatives were only made available to certain key members of the worlds governments they were still faced with an elevated status and a new range of responsibilities.

"Are you talking about those strange sighting and disturbances in the real world, and the sudden attacks in the Digital World?" Ken inquired, recalling the events that had been all over the news for the last month.

"I believe so. The events correspond perfectly with the reappearance of the Network Continent. And considering no one from outside the Network Continent has even set foot on it in eons, anything could be over there now." Gennai surmised.

"So you want us to investigate before something serious happens and creates a problem between the Human World and the Digital World." Tai reasoned. Things had been tense the last few years, but with these recent events things had been getting ready to explode.

"Yes." Gennai simply answered before entering into the logistics of the plan. Like how they would get there and what to look for. But considering that Gennai had no idea as to the condition or arrangement of the lost continent he didn't have much to offer.

From beside her brother Kari listened to the group talk, unsure of how she felt about all of this. On one hand it might be interesting to see a whole new part of the Digital World. While at the same time she had no idea what was going to happen there. Somehow from the moment she had heard about the lost continent she felt like it would cause some big change in her life. She continued to lose herself in her thoughts until something Gennai said brought her back.

"The only other thing I know about it is that it was where the original Digidestine appeared and fought." Gennai noted with a look of interest on his face.

"Wait! I thought Tai and the others were the original Digidestine?" Davis stated, wanting some answers to this new claim.

"There was actually a group before us Davis." Matt explained to the confused boy.

"We just don't know much about them, or their reason for ever coming to the Digital World." Izzy added with a slightly embarrassed sigh. Leave it to Izzy to feel bad about not knowing something.

"Their entire story was sealed behind the barrier. We wouldn't even know they existed if it wasn't for a short visit they paid to the Server Continent." Gennai rejoined.

"Does the fact that it's the original Digidestines old stomping ground having anything to do with our mission." TK inquired, wondering how the recent events could be tied to something from so long ago.

"I don't see how it could be connected, but you never know." Gennai commented with a laugh. He had no really intent beyond this; he really had just felt like sharing that bit of information with the group.

"So when do we leave?" Tai inquired on behalf of the group.

"I've already locked the coordinates into the portal program. So whenever you're ready to go you can all head out." Gennai explained bring his end of the conversation to an end.

After informing their parents and a few government agencies of their plan, followed by a few hours of preparation, all twelve of the Digidestine and their respective partners were gathered before the glowing computer screen in Izzy's room.

"So I guess we're all ready to go than." Davis cheered waiting for Tai's signal to get the mission underway. After a few seconds Tai gave him an approving nod and Davis raised his D-3 to the computer screen and triggered the transmission. The group was quickly enveloped in the bright white light and whisked away to a whole new land.

* * *

After a trip that seemed longer than usual the Digidestine touched down on the continent of Network. Well, it was more liked crashed down.

"Man, I guess something's will never change…" Tai groaned as he waited for however many of his fellow Digidestine that had been piled on top of him to get off.

"Kari, are you alright?" Davis asked as soon as he was back on his feet. Even in this situation he made sure to not forget about earning some points with Kari. But in return he got no answer. Kari was far too preoccupied with the scenery that stretched out before her.

Laid out before them was a large city of tall steel buildings and streets filled with digimon. The buildings rose high into the sky and were designed in strange, but familiar ways. They would curve or bend at odd intervals and there seemed to be massive cables inserted at different levels that either ran to other building or into the ground below. It was the kind of construction you could only find in the Digital World.

The streets were filled with all kinds of digimon walking about and talking to each other. The digimon themselves ranged in level and size, but seemed to get along just fine. At the bottom of the buildings were different shop fronts with all kinds of things up for sale. The Digidestine themselves had landed just outside of one of these stores. An electronics store to be exact; one with many different television sets filling its storefront window.

"Wow… I've never seen anything like this on File or Server." Sora noted as the rest of the group stared on in awe. "I mean how often do you see a city like this in the Digital World?"

"Or this many different digimon grouped together like this." Joe added as he tried to recall some of the names of the digimon he saw.

"It's very strange… It's not uncommon to find small digimon settlements in the Digital World or an abandoned metropolis like we found on Spiral Mountain. But to find something of this scale with a complex working community is incredible. I wonder how it came about…?" Izzy began to speculate as the group uneasily made their way through the crowded streets. While they walked they would notice a strange look or whisper from a digimon here and there, but most just ignored them or didn't really care.

"I have no idea where to start…" Tai sighed after they had been walking around the city for a few hours. They now stood in what was probably a park by the looks of all the trees and grass.

"You all seem kind of lost." A voice called to the group from off to the side. The Digidestine instantly turned their attention to the source and spotted a humanoid digimon standing behind a bar cleaning a glass.

The digimon was about the size of a full grown adult human. It was female in appearance and had two sets of wings protruding from its back, the bottom set being half the size of the top set. On its arms, legs, and chest it wore gold armor. The midriff was left bare except for a pair of crisscrossing black leather belts that ran down to her waist and ended at the colorful cloth covering her lower half. Attached to her waist was a pair of steel swords with red hilts. Wrapped around her head was a red turban with a green jewel placed in a winged holder in the middle of it. The cloth covered her blond hair and the top half of her face was hidden by a golden mask with eye holes.

"You can come over here, I don't bite." The angel digimon smiled as she set down the glass she had been cleaning and motioned for the children to come and sit down at one of the stools before the bar. The Digidestine exchanged uncertain looks before giving in and taking a seat. "Welcome, I'm Darcmon, and this is my bar." The angel digimon introduced itself.

"Hello." Several members of the group responded. Kari on the other hand smiled and turned her attention to the different digimon seated a few chairs down from them. One was a rather large dino digimon drinking from a large mug while a smaller pink digimon, most likely some kind of rookie or in-training, sat on its shoulder gulping down a plate of food. It was kind of strange to see two different levels of digimon getting along so well.

"I'm done little bro! Let's get moving!" The little pink digimon suddenly cheered after licking its plate clean. "Sounds good big sister." The larger dino digimon smiled as it finished the remaining liquid in the mug and set it down on the counter. "I'm leaving the money here." It called down to Darcmon before setting down some strange cards on the counter and walked away. As Kari watched them walk away she couldn't stop thinking about how they had referred to each other in terms of family, something she hadn't ever heard in the Digital World before.

"So can I get any of you something to drink or eat?" Darcmon asked scanning the group for any takers. The Digidestine didn't seem too sure, but the digimon had already begun drooling at the idea of some food. Darcmon just stared at the group thinking about something for a few seconds before talking again. "So you all look pretty confused… Are you new to the Flame Empire?"

"The what?" Tai asked for his confused group. They had come here under the assumption that they were on the continent of Network, not whatever this Flame Empire was.

"Isn't this Network…?" Davis questioned.

"Okay, I'm starting to see you're more lost than I thought." Darcmon laughed before she reached under the counter and began putting glass mugs down on the counter. "This is the continent of Network. But right now you're in the Flame Empire. It's one of the ten lands that make up Network." She explained as she filled each glass with a blue liquid and set one down before each of the Digidestine and their partners.

"I'm sorry, but we don't have any money on us…" Kari apologized as she looked at the cup of delicious looking liquid before her. She had no idea what it was, but it looked clean and refreshing.

"Don't worry about it dear. It's on the house. I couldn't even dream of charging some new visitors to the Flame Empire for something as simple as drinks." Darcmon smiled, motioning for the group to drink up. With smiles of their own the Digidestine each took a healthy gulp of the liquid. Kari had been right, it was very refreshing and tasty.

"Could you possibly tell us more about Network?" Izzy inquired as he swallowed a mouthful of the drink. They were very glad that they had finally found a source of information like Darcmon.

"Sure." Darcmon smiled again before she leaned back against the shelves behind her. "Network is divided into ten areas. The Valley of Wind, the City of Metal, the Thunder Ranges, the Ice Tundra, the Water Isles, the Kingdom of Light, the Dark Area, the Earth Realm, the Wood Expanse, and the Flame Empire, where you are now." She explained. "And you couldn't have picked a better place to start your visit to Network."

"Why's that?" TK asked wondering how this place could be any better than somewhere else. Darcmon face just lit up at that point.

"Because the Flame Empire is the best out of all of them. It covers thirty percent of Network, so it's the biggest and it has plenty of cities and other locations connected by the Trailmon system. And you won't find a friendlier area in all of Network, especially here in Ember Coast." Darcmon cheered. Apparently she really loved to talk about her area. It probably stemmed from a strong sense of national pride.

"So this city's called Ember Coast." Matt commented after taking another sip of his drink.

"Yes. We also have a pretty decent Trailmon system hub here too." Darcmon offered as an explanation, but only created more questions with her answer.

"What's a Trailmon system?" Mimi asked. Something about it made her really want to know.

"It's a system of tracks that stretches all over Network which Trailmon travel along. You can actually see it over there." Darcmon noted as she leaned over the counter and pointed further down the road they had been walking along. For a moment there was nothing, but a low rumble suddenly began to fill the air. In the next instant a large train engine sped past an opening followed by a long row of passenger cars. Inside the cars the Digidestine could make out different digimon sitting or standing by the windows.

"You're kidding…" Mimi painfully sighed on the verge of tears. The memories of the old days that were filled with never ending walks through burning deserts and frozen waste lands came rushing back. "Why couldn't they have had those Trailmon back on File of Server?" Mimi whined. The rest of the Digidestine were having similar thoughts as well.

"Look at it this way Mimi. It means we won't have to walk everywhere this time around." Sora noted hoping Mimi could recover from this. Mimi just gave her a sad nod before returning to her drink.

"And best of all, the Flame Empire is ruled over by the strongest of all the rulers. The Flame Emperor." Darcmon added as she clenched her fists and raised them up in triumph.

"The Flame Emperor…?" Ken inquired, bad memories of his time as the Digimon Emperor quickly returning to him.

"Yes, he's been our ruler since the Flame Empire came into existence. He and the other nine rulers brought the Second Great War to an end with their strength. And when it was all over, they divided Network into the ten areas, each becoming the ruler of one of them." Darcmon explained. "You can actually tell what area you're in by the flags you find. See, this is the flag of the Flame Emperor and the Flame Empire." Darcmon stated with a smile as she pointed to a crimson flag hanging on the wall behind the bar.

"The Flame Emperor…" Kari whispered to herself.

* * *

"Ka… Kari…" A pained, but familiar voice from behind Kari broke her focus on the crimson flag over the fireplace and brought her back from her memories. Turning around Kari's eyes landed on a furry white ball resting on a small couch at the end of the bed.

"Gatomon!" Kari cried as she ran to her partner's side and pulled her into a hug. Both of them were happy to see each other again; especially after what had happened.

"Where are we?" Gatomon asked as Kari released her "…And why are you dressed like that?" She added noticing the change in Kari's wardrobe.

"I don't really know the answer to either of those questions… but judging by the Flag of Flame on the wall… I'd say were back in the Flame Empire." Kari answered turning back to look at the flag over the fireplace.

"You would be correct malady." A voice suddenly spoke from out of nowhere. Instantly the two began to scan the room for another presence, but quickly found that they were alone. But with a sudden burst of flame near the fireplace they were no longer alone in the room.

The digimon that had suddenly appeared in the room was actually very familiar looking. If it wasn't for the coloring and parts of the outfit he could have easily been mistaken for a Wizardmon. The digimon before the fire was wearing a pair of red shorts with flame lining, which reached down to a pair of big red leather boots. Around its waist three black leather belts crisscrossed to which two large matches with different colored heads, one red and one blue, were attached. Covering the torso was a red and orange vest with tattered sleeves. Golden rings were attached to each of its forearms and a large pair of red gloves covered each hand. From under its tattered pointed red hat a pair of yellow eyes, a stitched mouth, and black hair jotted out. And interestingly enough resting on top of the hair were a pair of round framed goggles.

"Who are you?" Gatomon growled jumping to the floor and putting herself between Kari and the new arrival. However, the digimon didn't seem the slightest bit intimidated by Gatomons brave act. He just treated it with a look of disinterest.

"I am FlameWizardmon." The red clothed digimon answered with a bow. He made no hostile moves and came no closer as he let Kari process his arrival.

"Hello, FlameWizardmon…" Kari returned the greeting with an uneasy breath. Seeming to take her response as a cue FlameWizardmon began stepping forward which instantly put Gatomon on edge. After he had taken a few steps forward he once again bowed and spoke.

"I welcome you to the Pyre Citadel." FlameWizardmon spoke in the same compliant tone as he had before.

"Thank you… Wait! Do you mean the home of the Flame Emperor! That Pyre Citadel!" Kari asked as the reality of her situation quickly set in. The luxurious room and expensive clothes she was wearing where making a lot of sense now.

"Yes, malady." FlameWizardmon spoke again before he began walking forward again. "Now if you and your digimon would please follow me." He asked before walking towards the steel and wood door. With a solid pull the door swung open and FlameWizardmon motioned for the two to pass through it. The hallway was very much like the room. The same warm gray stone and crimson tapestries lined the walls, while touches burned brightly on the walls.

"Where are we going?" Kari inquired after a short distance. Up until now she hadn't really thought about where this digimon was taking her, but it wasn't like she had anywhere else to go right now.

"I'm taking you to the Imperial Courtroom." FlameWizardmon answered as he led them down another hallway.

"A courtroom! Did we do something wrong?" Kari asked with an uneasy tone of surprise. Things had felt off since she had woken up, and the feeling only got worse when she was told she was being taken to a courtroom. But the feeling could only be her imagination playing tricks with her mind, which was understandable considering the situations she found herself in.

"Not that I know of." FlameWizardmon simple replied before turning back to look at the girl. When he noticed the uneasy look on the girls face he chose to speak again. "But if you had done something wrong, I doubt they would be treating you as good as they are. And anyways I doubt a girl like you could do something terrible enough to bring the wrath of the Imperial Court down on them." He tried to reassure her, hoping to calm her fears. Kari simple rejoined with a gentle smile and a small nod.

"Can I ask you another question?" Kari asked. When FlameWizardmon gave her a nod of approval she proceeded to ask her question. "Do you know where my friends are?"

FlameWizardmon thought for a moment before responding. "No. All I know is that you and your digimon were found unconscious outside one of the Flame Empires fringe towns, then brought here." He answered. Kari just whispered something and hung her head in return. Taking notice of this FlameWizardmon attempted to raise the girl's hopes. "But the Magistrates might know something. So you should ask them once we get to the courtroom."

"Thank you." Kari smiled her mood brightening slightly.

At the end of the hallway a long crimson curtain hung from the ceiling concealing whatever was behind it. As they neared it FlameWizardmon reached out and swept the curtain to the side. Instantly daylight poured in through the doorframe. While the hallways had been well lit the bright afternoon sun still stung and made Kari's eyes water, but this didn't slow her down as she continued to follow FlameWizardmon towards their destination.

Eventually Kari's vision returned and she finally got her first view of the Pyre Citadel. The outside was modeled after the old Edo style palaces from the history books. Gray stone and mortar ran together with light brown wood and crimson paint; creating a very strong and beautiful structure. The polished wooden panels that they were now walking on ran up to a short stone wall. Over the wall and down below there was a lush grassy courtyard which stretched for quite a distance until it hit some wooden floor panels and a stone wall. Fluttering from the tops of buildings and other structures in the small breezes were countless Flags of Flame. Kari had to admit it was very impressive structure with incredible beauty.

As they moved along the walkway Kari scanned the courtyard below marveling at the well kept grounds and gentle beauty of it. She continued to do so until her eyes landed on something standing in the middle of courtyard. Whatever it was it brought her to a dead stop as she locked all of her attention onto it. It wasn't that much bigger than her, maybe only half a foot taller than her. It was covered from the neck down in a tattered brown cloak which slowly rippled in the wind revealing hints of crimson and gold armor underneath. Covering what she assumed was the head was a crimson metal helm in the shape of dragon's head, complete with a golden horn sticking out of the middle on the top. In front of it a large shining silver sword with gold lining and a green hilt was embedded in the ground. Something about it kept her from looking away or even acknowledging her surrounds.

"Kari..?" Gatomon called to her partner from her shoulder. Kari had just been standing there for over a minute without saying anything and it was starting to worry Gatomon.

"Is that a digimon…?" Kari absentmindedly whispered to herself. But with Gatomons sensitive ears she heard it and turned her attention to the courtyard below where her eyes locked onto the figure as well. It continued to stand there without moving until it suddenly twitched and looked up at them. The moment it did Kari and Gatomon felt a strange force press down on them and they jerk back away from the wall until the figure vanished behind the stone.

"It can be pretty intense at first…" FlameWizardmon suddenly spoke, but Kari and Gatomon weren't really listening. They were still trying to get over the sensation that had made their hearts race, their knees buckle, and knocked the wind out of them.

"What was that!" Gatomon moaned in a pained voice. She and Kari were still shaking from the experience even after having a few minutes to recover.

"He probably felt you staring at him and directed his killing aura at you out of instinct." FlameWizardmon explained.

"Who did?" Kari moaned between breathes.

"The Flame Emperor." FlameWizardmon simple responded.

"That's the Flame Emperor…" Kari and Gatomon both exhaled. After seeing him one thing was for certain. The Flame Emperors incredible reputation was well deserved.

"We really need to get moving." FlameWizardmon stated as he helped Kari to her feet. The moment she was back on her feet she looked back down at the courtyard. But it was now empty except for a few in-training digimon playing in the swaying grass. The Flame Emperor was gone now. With no more distractions Kari allowed herself to be lead away, back through stone hallways and to a large set of metal and wood doors with a very familiar digimon standing before it.

"Wargreymon, open the doors. I've brought the girl as the Magistrates ordered." FlameWizardmon ordered the Wargreymon standing before the large doors. It just nodded before using one of its hands to push open the massive doors, which swung open with a low creak to reveal a very large room. Once the doors were open FlameWizardmon motioned for Kari to enter and with a few timid steps she complied. As she walked past Wargreymon she couldn't help but think about how strange it was to see such a powerful mega digimon just standing guard, but after seeing the Flame Emperor she could understand why. Here power was completely relative, and being a mega digimon didn't really mean much.

Inside Kari found herself in the center of a large room encircled by a raised wooden wall. Above the wall and moving back to the far wall were many rows of empty seats and desks. Apparently she was in the observation area of some big auditorium style courtroom. The walls were again lined with the same Flags of Flame that could be found everywhere, but in this case a massive one hung on the back wall directly in front of Kari. Above her a chandelier of white stones cast a bright daylight throughout the room. Before her were two judges benches where two heads of white hair looked down at her. In this situation she couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"Welcome, young one." The bushy head of white hair said as the head of gray hair disappeared from view.

"Hello…" Kari said in a quiet uneasy voice.

"Speak up dear!" A female voice suddenly demanded making Kari jump. From the side of the judge's bench a very short old woman dressed in colorful robes and gray hair done-up in a bun walked out and began making her way towards Kari. In her right arm she held a golden broom that was taller than her, and in her left she carried a small stepladder. "The names Babamon, dear." The small digimon introduced itself as it set the stepladder down next to Kari and began looking her up and down.

"Ummm…" Kari mouthed unsure of what was happening at the moment. After a few seconds Babamon began walking around the girl inspecting each angle of her while Kari turned to FlameWizardmon for some kind of guidance as to what to do next. Unfortunately, he gave her no response. He either had no idea what was happening, or he knew not to question the actions of this strange small woman.

"That dress looks beautiful on you, dear." Babamon smiled with her stitched mouth. Kari simply nodded in thanks, unable to form the words to answer. "But I bet anything would look good on that hot body of yours. Ah… to be young again." The old woman finished with a reminiscent sigh.

"Th… Thank you…" Kari answered unsure of how she should take being told she had a hot body by the little old digimon.

"Don't stutter dear it's unattractive." Babamon suddenly snapped making Kari jump again.

"Baba, can't you see you're scaring the poor thing." The male voice from earlier stated calmly from atop the judge's bench. At least it seemed like someone was still watching out for Kari.

"Quiet Jiji! I'm busy!" The old woman snapped again and the man fell quiet. Apparently even he was afraid of the small woman. With the old man quiet again the old woman motioned for FlameWizardmon to come over to her, which he instantly complied with. She then pointed to the small stepladder which FlameWizardmon picked up and unfolded before setting it down before Kari where Babamon pointed. While all of this was happening Kari and Gatomon were becoming more and more confused. "Thank you. With my arthritis those small things are becoming more difficult each day." Babamon thanked FlameWizardmon before pointing at Gatomon on Kari's shoulder.

With a nod and a sigh FlameWizardmon took a step forward and slowly lifted Gatomon off of Kari's shoulder with both hands. The white feline digimon instantly went into defensive mode. "Calm yourself. I swear no harm will come to the girl. Magistrate Babamon just wants to get a better look at her." FlameWizardmon reassured her. Gatomon didn't know what to believe so she turned to Kari to find out what she wanted to do. Kari gave Gatomon an uneasy smile as she motioned that it was alright. She knew that if she wanted to ask questions of her own she was going to have to comply. She also knew that there was probably a reason why a mega digimon like Wargreymon was standing at the door.

"Look smart, dear." Babamon suddenly ordered as she brought her face only a few inches from Kari's. Kari felt a little bit of anger well up in her at that comment, but she quickly let it go. "Now let me get a look at you." Babamon stated taking hold of Kari's chin with her left hand and maneuvering her face into different positions so she could inspect it. "Clear, beautiful, crimson eyes… a lot of power behind those. And a good color too." The old woman said with a mystic tone.

"Excuse me Babamon. I was wondering if you could…!" Kari tried to begin asking her questions about her group, but a chin jerk to the side made her fall quiet. Apparently Babamon's inspection wasn't finished.

"A cute face. Very soft lily white skin, but not without hints of hard work. The nose is cute and the lips are the perfect level of pouty. Good bone structure. Soft, shiny hair; well taken care of." Babamon listed off one feature after another. At this point Kari was starting to get worried about the weird direction this inspection was taking. "Slender, but strong shoulders and arms. Definitely has seen her share of hard times. Well endowed bust. Hourglass form and toned body; must put in some daily exercise." Babamon continued as she slowly made her way down the ladder without stopping the inspection. In the back of her mind Kari was still trying to get over the embarrassing 'Well endowed bust' comment.

Once she off of the ladder Babamon began circling Kari once more and looking her up and down. Every so often she would poke her with the rounded end of her broom and make a comment. "Very good hips. Legs that go on forever. And cute toes." With that final note Babamon walked back to the judge's bench and disappeared behind it. A few seconds later her head popped up next to Jijimons and they began talking quietly. As the silence continued for what seemed like quite awhile, Kari turned to Gatomon and FlameWizardmon for some form of reassurance. They could only give her a shrug in return. Apparently they were both as confused as she was.

"Then it's decided." Babamon concluded in a loud voice.

"What's decided?" Kari asked surprised by the sudden exclamation. This whole thing just kept getting weirder by the second.

"You my dear will become our Flame Empress." Babamon plainly stated as Kari and Gatomons eyes widened in shock. This was a pretty shocking development, but she couldn't help but wonder what this new development entailed.

"But don't you already have a Flame Emperor?" Kari inquired feeling that she was missing an important part of the picture.

"Of course we do, dear. But we are without descendents to take the throne." Babamon simply rejoined. It was right about this time that the rest of the picture filled in for Kari. "And with a wife and mother like you dear, the royal family of flames strength will grow stronger." Babamon finished driving the point home to Kari.

"Are you telling me you want me to marry the Flame Emperor!" Kari shouted in surprise. While on the inside she was dealing with the idea that she was only sixteen and they were talking about marrying her off to some all powerful digimon. And then there was the whole children thing.

"Yes. You're at that age now where you should be thinking about your future marriage prospects. You're also at the child baring age as well. That body of yours will be able to produce plenty of healthy offspring." Babamon explained as Kari shifted into a mild panic attack at the thought.

"You can't be serious!" Kari asked in an almost laughing tone. All she could think at the moment was that this kind of thing didn't really happen in real life. It only ever happened in stories and anime.

"But I'm afraid we are young one. A disharmony has arisen throughout the ten lands and we now stand at the precipice of a third Great War. So anything we can do to increase our nation's strength and secure its safety, we will do." Jijimon spoke now in a serious tone.

"What generation are you living in? Kari's way too young to be getting married and having children." Gatomon protested on behalf of her partner. She wasn't even going to mention how wrong it was that they expected a human girl to mother digimon children.

"Regardless… FlameWizardmon take her back to her room." Jijimon ordered and FlameWizardmon bowed in compliance before ushering the two out of the Imperial Courtroom. As they walked along the hallways back towards the room they had woken up in, Kari's mind raced to make sense of what had just transpired. She was now essentially engaged in the Digital World to something that had terrified her just by looking at her. But had she really been scared of him or was it something else. She spent her remaining time before drifting off into a restless sleep in the large soft bed trying to figure out how she felt and what she should do next.

* * *

To be continued…

* * *

So there it is. The start of my third story. I hope you liked it, because now it's time to get down to a few author notes.

First things first, as anyone who's reading my other two stories knows I'm still in the middle of writing and posting for them, so my times already pretty divided as it is. So what I'm trying to say is don't expect to see updates that often. Until the other two finish out you can expect there to be three to four months between updates. Sorry, to say that if you found that you like this story, but I have my other obligations to meet. This one was original meant to only be something to help me work out my writers block, but somehow it developed into a pretty interesting story line, with a world that's as important a character as the Digidestine and digimon in it.

Second, a bit about the backstory of this world. In the first digimon series Gennai mentioned something about Digidestine coming before Tai's group, refering to them as the originals. And when he's talking about them five figures flash across the scene, which reminded me of a certain other group of five. So you've already pretty much guessed who the original Digidestine are in this story, and if you haven't go back and read the story again.

Third, you probably noticed that a lot of this is from Kari's prespective or is focused on her. There's actually a good reason for that. Mainly, because it is. While Crossing Worlds is more of a Takuya, and Kari story. Forgotten Legends is more of a Kari, and Takuya story. If that makes sense to you, you're halfway there. The story will be more about how Kari affects the world and events around her, with Takuya helping out. When he actually get around to showing up. Another thing to note is that this is more of a romance and mystery story so more of the story will focus on character interactions and events, rather than battles and an actaully goal like my other two stories. When the two of them get started they'll have no idea what's going on behind the scenes so they will set out to solve the mystery of Network before it's too late by seeking information and trying to stay one step ahead of those out to stop them.

Fourth, is more of an interesting fact than a note. When I started thinking about this story I actually envisioned Mimi as the female lead, but after more consideration I picked Kari. Looking back I can't help but wonder how different things would play out with Mimi in the lead, with her bubbly no nonsense personality driving the chain of events. I mean try to think about how she would react to finding out she would be queen over more than just a small island this time, and that she would have access to whatever her heart could possibly desire. I'm not saying she is shallow, but I'm willing her reaction would be in sharp contast to Kari's. Not to mention I could have been the first fic writer to do Takuya x Mimi. I actually only considered using Mimi because of a part I was writing for Crossing Worlds, but eventually had to drop because it almost made it look like Takuya and Mimi might have had an interest in each other. It was a fun event to write though, so if I write a fourth story they might get a chance together.

Well, that's enough rambling for this chapter. We'll be back in Network who knows when. Till then, enjoy my other two stories.

Crossing Worlds: The Sealed Digivice

Bound by a Similar Destiny


	2. The Investigation Began

**Chapter 2**

**The Investigation Began**

As Kari uneasily slept after getting the news that she would be getting forcefully married her dreams returned her to her first few days on the continent of Network. It had been a few hour now since they had finished their drinks and left the Darcmon's Bar. The helpfully angel digimon had shared her vast knowledge of the Flame Empire and Network with them. They were now sitting in the grass in a secluded area of the park trying to figure out what to do next.

"Out of everything I expected to find here this wasn't on the list. I mean File and Folder were something, but this place is a whole different level of something," Tai sighed as he leaned back and let himself fall backwards into the grass. They had spent the last few hours exploring the city trying to find any clues as to the strange events happening in the Digital and Real World. After a while it had become obvious that they wouldn't find the answers in Ember Coast. They had actually discovered that Ember Coast was more of a vacation spot. Not really the kind of place one expected to find shadowy dealings going on.

"Yeah… If it wasn't for all the digimon walking around I'd swear we were back in the Real World," Matt noted. Digimon in the streets of the city had become a common sight in the Real World over the last five years. But those were normally in-training or rookie digimon, and they were always accompanied by their human partners.

"So where do we go from here?" Davis inquired at a total loss as to what they were going to do next.

"To tell you the truth Davis, I don't really know." Tai answered. Around him the Digidestine let their bodies relax in the comfortable breezes rolling off of the coastal beach. It was a really nice place with great weather which made concentrating on anything other than the peaceful atmosphere difficult.

"We could move inward towards the capital of the Flame Empire," Izzy suggested.

"Why?" Tai inquired sitting back up so he could look his friend in the eyes, hoping that he had a reason behind his suggestion.

"Well, it would stand to reason that we'd be able to find more information in the capital, since it's the biggest city in the Flame Empire," Izzy explained with a knowledgeable tone. "And according to Darcmon thousands of digimon from all over pass through there."

"So you're counting on the idea that we might be able to learn something from all the information passing through the city," Ken noted, seeing the logic in Izzy's plan.

"And it's still within the Flame Empire which seems to accept outsider pretty readily," Tai added liking the idea more and more. Off to the side TK seemed disinterested by the conversation, or maybe he had something else more pressing on his mind. "What did Darcmon say the capital was called again?" Tai inquired absentmindedly.

"Capital of Blazing Radiance," Sora answered quickly. The name just kind of stuck, so it was easy for most of them to remember.

"Yea, that's right!" Tai laughed at the fact that he wasn't able to remember a name like that. "I guess that means we should figure out how this whole Trailmon system works so we don't have to walk there," he concluded, bring smiles to those gathered around him. They were happy to have a plan, but they were mostly smiling about the idea of not having to walk and instead being able to travel the distance in comfort.

"Everyone ready to go?" Davis cheered jumping up preparing to leave. The others made motions to follow him, except for Matt, TK, and Izzy. Matt's reason for staying down seemed to have to do with TK's condition, while Izzy seemed immersed in whatever he was doing on his laptop.

"Hey, Izzy, you still with us?" Mimi teased. When he didn't respond she tilted her head to the side and stared down at his screen. Displayed across the desktop were different size maps and charts. "What's that Izzy?" She asked unable to figure out what she was seeing.

"I found an open access data network in the city," Izzy commented before going quiet again.

"A what…?" Tai questioned. He really hated it when Izzy used computer jargon with him, since by now he thought Izzy would understand that most people don't know what he was talking about.

"It's kind of like the internet, but less expansive," Ken tried his best to explain.

"In a lot of ways it seems to be modeled after the internet back home. But there are some differences here and there," Izzy noted bring himself out of his intense concentration.

"So what's the point?" Davis asked wishing that they were underway already.

"The point is that I found a source that has detailed maps of the entire continent, so I'm downloading them in case we need them," Izzy responded setting the computer down to complete its task.

"Good find Izzy!" Tai congratulated the computer genius.

"Leave it to Izzy and his laptop to find something so useful," Yolei added with a big smile.

"Is something wrong?" Tai asked turning his attention to the two blond siblings. Matt just looked back at him with an unsure shrug, while TK acted like he hadn't heard him. Ever since Darcmons Bar he hadn't been acting right. Like something was bothering him.

"I think we all know where we'll find our answers," TK suddenly announced without lifting his head. "The Dark Area…" he concluded looking up at the group with a focused gaze.

For a few moments the group stood in silence, contemplating what TK had just brought up. In truth, they had all had the same thought after listening to Darcmon, but had chosen to look for alternatives. However, somewhere in the back of their minds they really wanted to avoid going there.

"TK has a point Tai," Matt commented backing up his little brother's claim.

"…I know… but something about it… I don't know…" Tai tried to answer, but found it difficult to find the right words. After a few moments of silence Tai had to give in to the idea. "I guess it's worth looking into," he agreed with an agitated sigh.

"So how do we get there…?" Cody asked when the decision was made. Going off of the name they assumed it wouldn't be easy to reach. Places like it normally weren't in their experiences.

"Actually it appears that I'll be quite easy," Izzy noted turning all the attention to him.

"How so Izzy?" Matt inquired.

"Apparently the Trailmon system runs everywhere, even the Dark Area," Izzy answered turning his laptop towards the group. Displayed across the screen was a large square of land colored deep purple. Scattered about the square was winding lines of black and a few black circles here and there.

"So this mean…?" Davis questioned after giving up trying to figure out what he was looking at on his own.

"It's the map I was downloading. The dark purple part is the land the Dark Area covers and the black lines are Trailmon tracks," Izzy explained as if he had known all along.

"And the black circles?" Yolei further inquired getting closer to the screen.

"They're terminals where the Trailmon stop to drop-off and pick-up new passengers," Izzy replied before turning the computer back towards him and began writing something down on a piece of paper.

"What you written Izzy?" Tai asked as he watched Izzy finish scribbling and close his laptop.

"It's the information we need to get to the Dark Area. Basically the track number and train we need to take," Izzy explained before pushing up off of the ground and getting to his feet.

"So I guess we're off to the Dark Area then…" Davis cheered with an unsure tone.

As the group explored the train terminal and waited at the platform, with all kinds of digimon, for the right Trailmon to pull in, Kari's mind began to wander. Since she and the other had arrived there hadn't been much time to stop and think. There was just so much to take in; it was quite a change from everything they were used to. But at the fore front of her mind was where they were heading now; the Dark Area. From the moment she had heard that name memories of the Dark Ocean had been dancing at the edge of her mind. In truth the idea frightened her, but with everyone with her she felt she had the strength to go there.

However, the safety of numbers wasn't the only factor keeping her calm, even if she didn't know it. For some strange reason she wasn't afraid of the Dark Area like she was afraid of the Dark Ocean. She didn't know if it was because of how Darcmon had spoken of it, but somehow it didn't seem like an evil place.

"It's here," Tai said as he patted Kari on the head, bringing her out of her thoughts. In front of her a strangely shaped blue train, with a dangling antenna hanging off of the front, sat steaming in the shade of the terminal. With a final powerful release of steam the doors of the passenger car sprang open and digimon began to exit. Once all that were getting off were off new passengers began to get on. Smaller digimon happily jumped in through open windows; while bigger ones tried to maneuver themselves through the doors.

"It would seem to be kind of dangerous right now…" Yolei uneasily laughed as heavy digimon pressed against each other creating a dangerous mass for something as small and fragile as humans.

"Yeah…" The others responded in the same uneasy tone.

"Don't worry about it, just wait. I don't leave until everyone's onboard," A grinding voice suddenly stated. The Digidestine quickly set about looking for the sources of the voice, but found no one near them.

"Who said that?" Davis inquired of the voice hoping it would reveal itself.

"I did…" The voice spoke louder this time as the train engine next to them shook slightly. The strange movement of the train brought the Destines attention to it and they were instantly greeted with a large red eye reflecting them in its surface. "Hi!" The train engine smiled allowing them to see the red hot engine on the inside.

"Guys… is the train talking to us…?" Davis asked questioning his own sanity over all else.

"You know… I don't see why that's so surprising, considering this is the Digital World after all… but somehow it still is…" Tai laughed as the group tried to get over the shock of the sudden encounter.

"We actually should have expected something like this considering the fact that they're called Trailmon," Izzy noted as he began to inspect the steaming mechanical digimon.

"I'm guessing you're all new to the whole Trailmon system…" The Trailmon laughed as his eyes followed Izzy's inspection of its surface.

"You could say that…" Kari nervously laughed.

"Well, don't worry I'll get you to where you're going, no problem," Trailmon assured them. "But if I may make a suggestion, you probably want to get in the front car if you want to sit comfortable. Those cars doors are smaller than the others so you won't have to worry about having to share a car with any digimon bigger than you."

"Thank you," Kari thanked him on behalf of the group before they boarded the front passenger car. Stepping inside they found a hard metal floor below their feet and benches covered in soft green padding.

"Ahh, air-conditioning..." Mimi smiled as she took a seat right beneath the humming system of vents.

"Well, at least Mimi's happy," Sora laughed, taking a seat beside her on the bench.

After looking around the car for a bit they heard a low ding, before the doors slid shut and clicked into place. It would appear that they would have the front car to themselves. Once the doors were closed the remaining standing members took their seat and the Trailmon slowly began to pull out of the station.

"It looks like we're on our way," Yolei mused as the station began moving into the distance.

"So where are you all heading too?" A voice rattled out over the intercom attached to the ceiling in the middle of the car.

"Trailmon…?" Kari questioned looking up at the intercom.

"Yes, I thought we could continue our talk while we make our way to the next station," the Trailmon's voice came over the intercom once more.

"We're planning to go to the Dark Area," Tai answered.

"Haven't been there in a while now… but it was an interesting run while I was there though," Trailmon mused with a reflective tone. "Are you going there for any reason in particular?" It asked turning itself back to the conversation.

"We're looking for some information about some things, and the Dark Area seemed like the place to start," Tai answered back.

"What's it like there?" Izzy inquired, wanting to gather some facts about the place they were heading.

"It's a pretty quiet place actually… and it's always night. However, I don't really know how much information actually passes through there, but if you're going to find any I would suggest the Dark Area Trailmon main station or the Shadow Keep," Trailmon answered. "But to get into the Shadow Keep you'll need to be invited by the Dark Lord," Trailmon added.

"Thanks, we'll keep that in mind," Izzy rejoined as he added what the Trailmon had told them to his database of information he had started when he first arrived in Network.

"If the Dark Area is where you're heading though you'll have to catch the Dark Trailmon at the Flame Terminal, my last stop, and the main Trailmon station in the Flame Empire. It also happens to be in the largest city in all the ten areas, Capital of Blazing Radiance." The Trailmon noted. "The problem is that there is only one and if you miss it you'll have to wait a week for it to circle back."

"Wait, are you saying there's only one Trailmon that goes to the Dark Area?" Davis questioned with a measure of surprise.

"Yes, it makes a stop at each of the main terminals during it's week long route. After each stop it goes directly to the main terminal of the Dark Area, and then back out heading for one of the other areas," the Trailmon explained.

"That makes no sense. Why would there only be one Trailmon?" Mimi questioned, fearing that if they missed the Dark Trailmon they would be forced to walk.

"They like their quiet in the Dark Area," the Trailmon laughed, while outside the beaches and fields of the Ember Coast vanished, and were replaced by thick forest and rolling hills.

* * *

About six hours later they pulled into the Flame Terminal and exited the passenger car amongst the throngs of digimon. During the trip they had crossed half the Flame Empire, and considering how long it took them to arrive and the speed they had been traveling gave real measure to the size of the continent of Network. It most likely would have been a much longer trip if they hadn't taken the express, which only made a few stops between the Ember Coast and City of Blazing Radiance.

"Now, take those stairs over there down ten flights to the basement platform. There you'll find the DarkTrailmon stop," the Trailmon said as he eyed the stairs leading down.

"How'll we know which ones the DarkTrailmons stop, or which ones the DarkTrailmon for that matter?" Davis questioned of the Trailmon.

"Because the eleventh floor is pretty small and set aside for the express purpose of two areas, the Dark Area and the Light Kingdom, but there haven't been any Trailmon running to the Light Kingdom for a few years now. So you only have two stops to chose from, and only one Trailmon to show up. And trust me if you can't tell its DarkTrailmon just by looking at it you must be blind," their guiding Trailmon laughed, releasing a puff of steam at the idea. "Only bad part about it is that the DarkTrailmon moves at his own pace so you can never really tell what time of day it will show up," it added.

"Thanks, for all your help Trailmon," Kari bowed to show her appreciation.

"You are very welcome, young lady. But you better hurry before this place gets crowded again," Trailmon smiled as he began cooling off before he would have to be making the trip back to the Ember Coast in a few hours.

The Digidestine carefully descended the small staircase which had a sign with the words, IN-TRAINING AND ROOKIE ONLY, printed on it hanging on the rail. Running alongside it was a larger staircase with a sign indicating that it was for Champion, Ultimate, and Mega digimon. Down ten flights they went to the basement, and out into a small concrete dome of a platform.

The walls of the final platform were smooth black marble which five feet from the ground was lined with polished dark brown wood paneling. On either side of the stairs there were smaller wooden platforms above which lanterns hung and two sets of tracks ran. Both small platforms looked the same, even down to the large clocks positioned between the sets of benches on each side.

"Do you think we missed it?" Yolei inquired as she looked about for any hint as to whether a Trailmon had been in the station recently.

"I don't think so. While on the Trailmon I did some more research and for the DarkTrailmons timetable, and according to it the DarkTrailmon should arrive sometime today… I just don't know exactly when," Izzy stated as he looked around the small terminal as well.

"Maybe these clocks have something to do with its schedule?" TK said drawing the group's attention to the large clock on the right side.

"I don't see how it could, since this one's broken," Davis stated as he kicked the base of the left one.

"That might be true Davis, this one's working perfectly fine," TK noted as he looked up at the one on the right. "But now that I look at it I'm not sure if it's a clock. It only has one hand and no numbers, just different colored symbols."

"The one closest to the hand, I know it. It's the symbol of the Flame Empire," Kari noted, pointing to the red mark on the clock. "And the hands slowly moving towards it."

"That's it, Kari," Ken suddenly stated. "It's not a clock but a location transmitter. The DarkTrailmon must be on its way between whatever the pink one stands for and the Flame Empire, and the closer it gets to the terminal here, the closer the hand gets to that areas symbol."

"Then way isn't this one moving? It just seems to be stuck on the white one." Davis noted looking over his shoulder to his best friend for an explanation.

"Remember what the Trailmon we took said about the Trailmon that runs to and from the Light Kingdom having stopped. The Trailmon must just be staying in its own area, never leaving or moving, so the tracker must be right," Ken explained.

"So that means the white one must be the symbol of the Light Kingdom," Matt thought aloud as he tried to memorize the different symbols on the face of the clock.

"The hand doesn't seem to be moving much, does it?" Cody questioned, turning everyone's attention back to the Dark Area's side of the terminal.

"No, it doesn't. From the looks of it, it could be another few hours before it arrives," Tai sighed as he sat down on one of the benches and laid down. Kari took a seat next to his head and quickly drifted off into her thoughts. "Well, I'm sure when it gets here we'll know. So I'm going to take this opportunity to catch a little sleep," he added before closing his eyes and letting his body go limp.

Following their leaders example the group settled down of a few hours of rest. And as Kari drifted to sleep in her dream of the past, the current world began to fill her vision until she found herself sitting up in the soft crimson silk bed within the Pyre Citadel.

* * *

"Did you sleep well?" Gatomon asked from the foot of the bed.

"I guess this wasn't all a dream… I half expected to wake up on that bench by my brother, and this whole thing with the Pyre Citadel would have been a dream," Kari sighed as she stared at the dancing flames in the fireplace.

"No such luck I'm afraid. But while you were asleep I did a little checking around and I found out that we full access to most of the citadel, we just can't leave the grounds," Gatomon noted. "And unfortunately the walls are well guarded by some powerful flying digimon, which don't make me too confident in my ability to get us out of here as Angewomon."

"That's not good… But staying here is much worse…" Kari remarked, recalling memories of the court's decision to marry her off to the Flame Emperor.

"That's true, but we're going to have to find a way to sneak out of here without anyone seeing us," Gatomon whispered while walking across the bed to Kari's side.

"We'll also have to get out of the Flame Empire pretty quickly after that, because I don't think they'll be too happy about us escaping," Kari added as she swung her feet over the side of the bed and placed them on the floor before getting up.

With a small yawn Kari looked herself over in the mirror, doing her best to straighten out the winkles she had put in the dress after sleeping in it. FlameWizardmon and told her there was a set of pajama's in the large wooden closet, but she had been to stressed and tired to change last night, so she had just chosen to collapse on the bed and let sleep overtake her. She continued to work with the dress, while considering a change of clothes in the back of her head, when there was a knock at the door.

"Hello…" Kari uneasily spoke to the large wooden door.

"Morning, Malady," FlameWizardmons voice called through the door.

"Morning… Is there something you need from me?" Kari asked in the same uneasy voice.

"Actually, Malady, I was here to see if you or your partner needed anything. Breakfast is currently being served in the grand dining hall, and if you wished to wash I could guide you to the baths," FlameWizardmon stated, the mere mention of food making Kari and Gatomons stomachs rumble.

"It's probably best if we get something to eat. We won't be able to escape when the time comes if you're too hungry to evolve or even move," Kari crouched down and whispered to Gatomon, who begrudgingly agreed with her.

"Then, please show us the way to the grand dining hall," Kari said with a small bow after opening the door.

"As you wish," FlameWizardmon replied as he motioned for them to follow him.

Like the day before they followed him along the tapestry lined walls, all the way to the courtyard. Outside was another beautiful day, with the sun shining brightly and a gentle breeze blowing across the grass.

"The breeze feels so nice," Kari smiled happily as she ran a hand through her hair to hold the strands back that were being kicked up in the wind.

"That's because we're close to the border between the Valley of Wind and the Flame Empire. The cooling winds continue to blow this far into the empire, giving us many nice days," FlameWizardmon explained.

"The other areas must appreciate that as well," Kari remarked.

"Actually, the Valley of Wind only borders the Flame Empire and the ocean. That area is actually a long narrow piece of land formed between two mountain ridges, which starts out as peninsula in the north and cuts into the Flame Empire for a good distance. It's actually one of the smallest areas in Network, second only to the Water Isles in the east." FlameWizardmon shared. "It's for that reason the Flame Empire and the Valley of Wind are allies."

"Just because of the geography?" Kari further inquired.

"Yes, and the fact that the strength of the Flame Empire is enough to deter all the other area's from making any hostile moves towards the Valley of Winds," FlameWizardmon answered. "Now, if I may ask a question."

"Of course, what is it?" Kari asked, slightly a taken back by how nice FlameWizardmon was being. She had come to see the digimon in the Pyre Citadel as monsters that were holding her captive, but their guide seemed different than the others. It might have been the fact that he was instructed to be their guide in the castles, or, he might have been treating her like the Flame Empress she would soon be if she stayed. However, all she really knew was that he was being nice right now.

"Why is your partner looking at me like that?" He inquired while pointing directly at Gatomon on Kari's shoulder.

"I don't know, but it could be the fact that the last time you led Kari somewhere she came back engaged," Gatomon said, her voice dripping in hostile sarcasm. After that the rest of the walk was spent in silence, until they reached the grand dining room entrance.

"Is he in there?" Kari asked, hesitating outside of the entrance. The idea of seeing the digimon that had crippled her with just a stare was scary enough, but now that she had been told he was her fiancé, she was twice as worried about seeing him.

"No, the lord left early this morning for one of the towns on the border, and most likely won't be back for some time," FlameWizardmon answered as he attempted to usher the two of them into the dining hall.

With conformation that the Flame Emperor wasn't in the next room waiting for her, she and Gatomon entered the hall. The room was rather large, with burning chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and torches on the walls. The walls were made of the same gray stones as the rest of the castle, except that in this room they were covered with a reddish dark brown wood paneling and the elaborate tapestries that hung from the walls reached from the ceiling to the floor. In the center of the room was a large polished black wooden table that stretched nearly across the whole length of the room. At the far end of the table sat a decadent chair of black wood and crimson fabric. Kari assumed it must have been the seat belonging to the Flame Emperor. The table had a crimson and gold tablecloth running down the middle and draping off of the end near the entrance. Metal chairs of all different sizes and shapes ran along both sides of the table. Spread out across the table was plates of meats, fruits, drink, and other types of delicious foods.

"Follow me," FlameWizardmon instructed. The two obeyed and quickly followed after him, the whole time staring at all the different food set out on the table. "You may sit in the lord's chair until your own chair is completed," he added while motioning towards the emperor's chair, instructing her to sit.

Complying Kari sat in the chair and quickly noticed two things. First, that it had to have been the most comfortable chair she had ever sat in. And second, that while the chair appeared big because of its large back and decorations, it was actually just a little bigger than her. The armrest and legs seemed to be at the level that a human would be comfortable with.

"_Come to think of it, he didn't look all that big in the courtyard the other day, just intimidating. He actually seemed to just be a little bigger than me,"_ Kari thought to herself.

"Is something wrong, Kari?" Gatomon inquired after seeing the strange look of though on her partners face.

"No, it's nothing Gatomon… nothing at all…" She answered, shaking herself free from her thoughts, before looking down at the table. "We couldn't possibly eat all of this. So much of it will go to waste," Kari gasped as she stared at the sheer amount of food placed before her.

"Do not worry about it, Malady, there is no way we expected someone as small as you two to eat all of this. As is tradition, once the royals have eaten, the castle staff will be allowed to have the rest as their breakfast; hence, all of the chairs around the table," FlameWizardmon smiled at her before he began to walk away.

"Wait, where are you going?" Kari inquired, stopping the small man in his tracks. "You don't have to leave, and I would very much like the company."

"If you wish Malady," FlameWizardmon bowed before taking a seat in a chair his size a few down from where Kari and Gatomon sat.

Kari nervously looked around at the food on the table before turning to FlameWizardmon. "Does the Flame Emperor eat alone like this every day?"

"Nowadays, it's only him, Babamon, and Jijimon," FlameWizardmon responded with a sigh as his eyes scanned the full length of the table, frowning as they crossed all the empty chairs. "But it wasn't always like this… Many years ago the Lord used to invite the entire castle to dine with him. He used to laugh and smile with everyone, while we filled our stomachs with good food and drink, but now…"

Hearing the sadness his memories had brought Kari couldn't help but wonder what things around the castle must have once been like. "Why did things change?"

Taking a moment to think and then look at Kari FlameWizardmon just shrugged tiredly. "I don't know. The Lord gradually smiled less and less each day. And became more distant the more his smile faded, until he just stopped communicating with others entirely…"

"You mean he doesn't talk to anyone anymore?" Kari questioned, shocked by the news.

"He talks… but not in his voice anymore… I mean it's his voice, but it doesn't sound or feel the same…" FlameWizardmon depressingly sighed as he hung his head and stared down at the empty plate before him.

"I'm sorry…" Kari apologized after seeing how sad the small digimon had become.

"It is not your fault, Malady… Things have just been 'different' since odd occurances have been happening in Network…" FlameWizardmon reassured the girl before picking out something to eat. The rest of the meal was spent in an awkward silence. FlameWizardmon not wanting to talk anymore, and Kari brimming with questions, but too afraid of hurting him with them.

After twenty minutes the three had eaten their fill and FlameWizardmon was guiding them out of the main hall and into the garden.

"Here we are, Malady," FlameWizardmon stated as he bowed and motioned for Kari and Gatomon to exit into the sunlight.

Following the guide digimons lead the two exited into a garden near the back of the citadel where they were instantly greeted by a beautiful landscape. Flowers, trees, bushes, and grass were all well maintained and positioned so as to bring out the true beauty of nature.

"Wow…" Kari and Gatomon marveled as they walked through the garden. They walked along until they came to a large patch of flowers in the center of the garden.

"It's amazing… It almost seems as if it's on fire…" Kari awed at the patch of flowers before her.

The patch of flowers was comprised of many shades of reds, oranges, and yellows that varied in heights and arrangements. In the winds that swept over the patch the flowers shifted and flowed like the flames of a large fire. It was beautiful to watch, but somehow strange overwhelming power flowed forth from it.

"You look quite amazing yourself before those flowers," a soft voice suddenly stated, snapping Kari out of her entranced gaze.

Turning towards the voice Kari and Gatomon were greeted by the sight of a female digimon about the size of an adult human female. She wore a pair of thigh high black high heel boots and a skin tight suit covering her torso. A pair of red gloves ran up to her shoulders and were wrapped in golden thorny vines that started at the wrist ran up her arms, over her shoulders, and down across her chest terminating somewhere on her back. A long green cape, white on the inside, was draped over her back with the collar turned up creating the affect of flower petals arching up around her head. In front the cape was held together with a pick flower clasp. Adorning her head was a large crimson rose that covered her eyes and nose. It left only her ruby red lips exposed and a golden blonde ponytail sticking out the back, tied up with roses.

"Morning, Rosemon," FlameWizardmon greeted the plant digimon with a bow. Beside him Kari and Gatomon stared at the new arrival, trying to figure out her reason for appearing before them.

Returning the greeting with a nod Rosemon then turned her attention to Kari. "You know when somebody gives you a compliment it's considered rude to say nothing in return. At the very least you could smile or say thank you," Rosemon stated with a hand on her hip and her head tilted slightly to the side. "But I guess it's your prerogative considering you'll soon be the Flame Empress," she added with a mock smile.

"I'm sorry…" Kari rejoined, trying her best to ignore the comment on her impeding marriage.

"Don't worry about it," Rosemon smiled a genuine smile this time. "With as much on your plate as you have, I'm not surprised that you're a bit despondent."

"So you think what's happening to Kari isn't right either?" Gatomon interjected looking hopeful at the mega digimon.

"Not really," Rosemon shrugged, dispelling any hope the two had for her. "In truth I think she's pretty lucky. You couldn't ask for a better mate than the Emperor."

Taking an instant dislike to Rosemon because of her response, Gatomon growled, "I think she'd be much luckier if you would all let her go," under her breath.

"But according to granny the union between you two will create a new generation of the royal family that will ensure our nations survival for centuries," Rosemon mused, reaching down and picking up a watering can. Then, leaning over the beautiful collection of fire like flowers she let the crystal clear water cascade out onto the petals before dripping down to the awaiting earth and roots below.

Ignoring the part about being united and creating a new generation Kari inquired about the only other thing she could think of. "Your granny?"

"Yes, why?" Rosemon replied, tilting her head to the side in mild interest.

Kari and Gatomon had been noticing something in Network that they hadn't anywhere else in the Digital World. Everywhere else in the Digital World, digimon tended to either live alone or in small communities; but the digimon in Network all seemed to have some kind of a family network. They would talk about parents, siblings, and it would appear, grandparents.

"W… Who is she I mean?" Kari jumbled her question in embarrassment. Only after calling attention to the word, granny, did Kari realize she had accidently spoken up about the topic which was only of interest to her and Gatomon. For someone like Rosemon and the other digimon of Network it appeared that family was a normal thing for digimon to have. And since Rosemon was referring to a granny, that probably meant she had a mother and father as well.

"I'm pretty sure you've already meet her in the Imperial Courtroom. A small digimon with a harsh little attitude," Rosemon answered with a friendly laugh.

"Wait! Are you saying that Babamon is your grandmother?" Gatomon shouted in surprise.

"Yeah… She's kind of grumpy now, but she was a beautiful Rosemon back in the day," Rosemon noted as she looked to the sky, most likely contemplating how many years she had left before becoming like Babamon.

"Wait! She was a Rosemon like you?" Gatomon jumped to a new topic quickly.

"What happened to her?" Kari questioned. Apparently they both couldn't figure out how a digimon like the Rosemon before them could become a Babamon.

"What do you mean, what happened? The same thing that happens to every digimon; she grew old," Rosemon answered as if the answer should have been obvious.

"Really?" The two awed. Again a difference between the lands they knew and Network arose. In Network it appeared that digimon actually grew old and changed over time, but now that they thought about it they weren't exactly sure of what happened to digimon on File and Folder when they got older.

"Okay, that's enough talk about something as depressing as getting old. How about I show you around the garden and answer some more of your questions. From the looks of you I'd say you still have plenty more to ask," Rosemon smiled as she set the watering can down on a small stone pedestal by a fountain before beckoning for the two to follow her.

"Aren't you going to need that watering can for the rest of the garden?" Kari questioned when she caught up with Rosemon.

Looking back at the shiny metal container, gleaming in the sunlight, Rosemon answered, "No, that one's only used to draw water to be used to water the Heart of Living Fire," she said as she pointed to the collection of beautiful flowers they had been standing near a few minutes ago.

"The Heart of Living Fire…" Kari repeated as she stared at the flowers which rippled and moved like the flames of a fire in the wind.

After giving the flowers one last look she turned and followed Rosemon, off deeper into the large garden, completely unaware of the shadows at the top of the wall watching her.

"So that's her?" One of the shadows asked of the one beside it.

"It would seem so. The soon to be Flame Empress," the voice replied with no emotion.

"Now that we've found her, when do we act?" The original voice inquired.

"When the time is right," the other voice answered before vanishing, followed shortly by the other shadow.

What lays ahead for Kari in the Pyre Citadel? Marriage? Or whatever the shadows have in store for her?

* * *

To be continued…


	3. Burning Touch

**Chapter 3**

**Burning Touch**

"I can't believe it's been five days now since we ended up here," Gatomon noted in a moan as she stared out their bedroom window at the heavy rain that fell from the sky and cascaded across the castle.

"Even longer since we arrived in Network," Kari added with a sigh.

It had been raining for three days now, ever since they had spent the day in the garden with Rosemon. Their time inside had given them time to plan and explore the Pyre Citadel, which they had to admit, was pretty impressive. They had run into many of the castles occupants, who had treated Kari with the upmost respect, but not enough to help her escape.

"They're even out there in this rain," Gatomon noted without moving her eyes off of the shapes moving in the distance. "I mean don't they ever get tired?"

She was referring to the guards on the wall who never seemed to leave their posts. Neither dark of night, burning sun, or crash of storms seemed to faze them.

"They seem very dedicated to their positions," Kari uneasily laughed as she stared into the vanity mirror before her, applying her make-up and fixing her hair.

Moving away from the balcony window and closer to the fire Gatomon questioned Kari's actions. "Why are you doing that? If I were you I won't do as that old bag Babamon told you?" Gatomon protested as Kari put the cap back on the crimson lipstick she had just applied. "I can't believe she called us back into court to tell you to make yourself presentable! Who does she think she is? First she has you kidnapped, and then she insults you," Gatomon fumed.

"I'm only doing it for two reasons. First, I have nothing better to do right now. And second, if I don't do it she yells at FlameWizardmon and Rosemon for not getting me to do it," Kari defended her actions. "It's not like it hurts me."

"But still…" Gatomon growled, biting at one of her claws in concern. "It feels like we're getting to complacent here. If we don't get out soon you'll end up married or worse."

"There is that," Kari sighed unhappily as she closed the container of crimson blush. "But after three days of searching the castle we still haven't managed to find a way out, or a hole in the guard's defense."

"I just can't believe that there's as many mega digimon guarding this place as there is," Gatomon sighed unhappily as well, before jumping up to the armchair by the fire.

"What I'm worried about is the others. I just want to know if they're okay or not. Nobody here seems to be able to tell me that; and the not knowing is killing me," Kari balled her fists in anger at all the heart wrenching questions she still had.

"Knowing nothing seems to be the only thing we've been capable of knowing since we got to Network," Gatomon mused, recalling more events before they became separated from the others.

* * *

Tai sat up with a loud long yawn. "Is that hand any closer to the symbol of flame?" He questioned once he had stretched his body.

They had been waiting in the lowest platform of the Flame Terminal for the DarkTrailmon to show for over six hours now. It wasn't the most comfortable place in the world, but despite it not being used much it was incredibly well maintained. There was no trash or even hints of dust so it must have been cleaned regularly. The metal rails and wooden floors were polished, so well in fact that if the lights that lined the walls weren't keep at a dim level they would have shined.

"It's almost right on top of it," Davis quickly returned before letting out a big yawn of his own.

"So I guess that means it's almost here. Or we're completely wrong about what that clocks trying to tell us," Tai laughed as he pushed himself up off of the bench he had been laying on and headed over to check on Kari.

"I don't see what else it could possibly mean," Izzy defended their assumption of the clock being a method of tracking the DarkTrailmons movements through the continent of Network.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah… I just hope all this waiting's worth it," Tai waved off the incident as he passed by.

"What going on big brother?" Kari questioned when Tai sat down next to her on the stairs. She had been talking with the other girls about something for the last few minutes, which had peaked Tai's interest.

"I could ask you girls the same thing," Tai said giving them a look that told them he wanted them to share what they had been discussing with him.

Giving in Sora spoke on behalf of the group, "It wasn't anything serious, but we haven't eaten since Trailmon treated us to a free meal in the dining car for being human; which was over twelve hours ago. So we we're thinking it would be a good idea to find something to eat before the DarkTrailmon gets here."

"That's a good idea. I've been starving for the last few hours, which means the digimon have to be running on empty by now," Tai noted, rubbing his empty stomach.

"But the problem is unless we manage to score another free meal, we have no way of buying any food," Mimi sighed tiredly as she tried to imagine under what circumstances they could get a free hot meal.

"There is that…" Tai sighed, letting his head hang slightly in disappointment.

"Speaking of money, has anyone seen how the digimon in Network are getting their hands on it, or even what it looks like?" Matt inquired, cutting in on the conversation.

"Back at Darcmons Bar I saw two digimon leave some cards on the bar with the bill," Kari noted, recalling the large and small digimon she had seen at the far end of the counter.

"Cards?" Tai questioned his little sister with an inquisitive look.

"Yes. They kind of me reminded me of the gift cards we get every Christmas from grandma and grandpa," Kari replied.

"It would kind of make sense to use digital money cards considering we're in the Digital World after all. There's actually a movement in the Real World towards converting to them and doing away with paper money," Izzy added, filling in the groups understanding.

"But then why did they leave them at the bar?" TK asked, joining in.

"I don't know? Maybe they were expended or maybe they use them differently," Izzy rejoined with before he set about thinking about the possible reasons.

"About the other part," Joe spoke up. "I saw some digimon cleaning the platform a few floors above when we were coming down."

"So they have jobs!" Tai said with a surprised tone to his voice. "This place is just so… so…"

"So much like the Real World," Kari finished for him.

"Yeah… It just so strange when you think about it," Tai concluded, bringing a silence over the group. "But that's not important right now. What is important is figuring out what we're going to do about getting something to eat right now. How about half of us go back up to the main floor and see if we can get our hands on some food, while the others wait here and make sure that if the DarkTrailmon shows up they stop it from leaving?"

"Sounds good," Matt agreed verbally while the others nodded silently.

Ten minutes later Kari and Tai found themselves standing outside a restaurant filled with digimon who were happily eating.

"Any ideas yet?" Gatomon asked the two humans hoping for a positive answer.

"No idea…" The two sighed.

"Maybe if we promise to do the dishes they would feed us?" Agumon absentmindedly commented, turning the attention of the other three to him.

"That's actually a really good idea, Agumon," Gatomon said with a surprised tone.

"Okay, let's try it…" Tai began to say before Kari suddenly ran ahead of them.

"I'll ask," Kari said before disappearing into the restaurant with Gatomon.

"Kari seems ready to go…" Agumon commented with a sideways glance.

"She's been acting like she can't sit still since we got to Network," Tai stated.

"Which is strange, since it's usually you who has trouble staying calm," Agumon commented with a tone that didn't sound like he was joking.

"Thanks for that, Agumon…" Tai sighed unhappily.

Three minutes later Kari returned with an unhappily look on her face and a slow weighted walk.

"What happened?" Tai inquired, already having an idea as to the answer.

"Well, first we had to get over the fact that it was an Etemon running the restaurant," Gatomon replied with a defeated tone.

"That must have been a little weird, but how did the rest go? Did we get turned down for the work?" Tai rejoined.

"Not right away. He said if we worked for an hour he'd feed us both. But when I told us how many people and digimon we had to feed, he said he couldn't possible need that many workers. And I hate to admit it, but I can't see anyway someone would need twenty-four workers in the kitchen," Kari sighed tiredly from the mixture of exhaustion and hunger.

"The hour thing would be a problem too. Looking at the clock downstairs I don't think we have the time to work off twenty-four meals," Tai added patting his sister on the head.

"That would be a probl…!" Gatomon never got to finish her though as a voice cut in just then.

"Excuse me. Girl," The voice called out. The four pairs of eyes quickly turned and found an Etemon dressed in a chefs white outfit and hat walking towards them with two large bags of food containers.

"Yes…?" Kari replied, instantly recognizing the Etemon as the one they had found running the restaurant.

"This is for you," he said handing Kari and Tai each a bag loaded down with warm food.

"But why?" Kari questioned in confusion as she took one of the bags from him and Tai the other.

"Let's just say I couldn't send you away hungry," Etemon smiled before quickly turning around and heading back into the restaurant.

"That was a little weird…" Gatomon commented as she looked down at the bag of food Kari was doing her best to hold up.

"Weird, but nice," Kari happily smiled. The other three nodded their heads in agreement.

"Let's go find the others before the food gets cold," Tai cheered as he motioned for them to follow him.

Back in the bar the Etemon watched the pair talk as he leaned against the bar, before turning around and addressing some digimon sitting at the end of the bar, "If you don't mind me asking, why'd you pay for all their food Lady Babamon?" Etemon questioned the small elderly digimon sitting at the end of the bar, making sure to speak with the upmost respect considering who he was talking too.

Babamon didn't answer right away. She just watched as Kari and Tai disappeared from sight as they went to find the other searchers so they could return to the DarkTrailmon platform to eat the food they were just given. Her response eventually came in a released breath, "Because I find that girl… interesting…"

"She didn't seem that special to me, but then again I'm not as wise as you malady," Etemon answered before returning to his place behind the bar.

"Etemon, did she say where she was going?" Babamon inquired without taking her eyes off of the spot where Kari had disappeared around the corner.

"She said that her and her friends were heading for the Dark Area, which was why they needed the food. Why'd you want to know? And for that matter why did you tell me not to tell them you paid for the food?" Etemon answered as he scratched under his chef's hat in confusion.

"Strange… I'll have to keep an eye on this…" She mused to herself, ignoring Etemons question since she no longer had need of him, before hoping down from the bar chair and exiting through a side door followed by a small entourage of digimon.

* * *

"That food was really good," Davis said with a satisfied pat of his stomach.

"They do say hunger is the best spice," Ken added as he carefully stacked the empty food containers on a bench in preparation for putting them in the trash.

"Things have been going pretty good since we..." Yolei happily began to muse, but a sudden rumbling on the tracks made her trail off.

The rising vibrations of the tracks turned everyone's attention to the shadowy archway at the end of the tracks. For a minute the vibrations continued to grow with no sign of the train, but when a red light suddenly appeared in the middle of the archway, they knew something was coming. The light continued to grow bigger and bigger with each passing second until a large dark mass crossed under the archway into the station.

"That definitely look like it should be the DarkTrailmon…" Cody noted taking a step back as the jet black Trailmon slowed to a stop right in front of them.

For a moment the DarkTrailmon held still in the platform, not moving or making a sound, then in a blast of steam crimson veins of light spread out across its surface, bending and looping into strange patterns. The lines pulsed every few seconds sending a surge of red light running down from the front of the engine to the back.

"All aboard that's coming aboard…" The DarkTrailmon slowly announced in low drawn-out words.

"Excuse me, I hope you don't mind us asking, but are you the DarkTrailmon? The Trailmon that goes to the Dark Area?" Sora inquired in a polite manner.

However, despite her respectful demeanor and politeness the DarkTrailmon didn't respond. It didn't even look at her with the large glowing red eye on its side. It seemed that it either hadn't heard her, or it didn't care. It just popped its doors open with a whoosh of released air and turned on the lights in the cars which sent yellow light pouring over the polished wooden floors of the platform.

"I guess we should take that as a yes," Tai uneasily laughed while he eyed the open doors.

"I guess so," Matt agreed.

With those final words the Digidestined entered the first car, taking seats on either side of the car. At the back Kari was the last to board. Stopping right before the step up, she turned and looked towards the stairs. From where she was standing she could see up to the next platform and the blue sky beyond it. In the distance she could make out buildings and some kind of massive structure deep within the distant mountain range. Looking out into the horizon Kari was overcome with a singular feeling; the feeling that she would be seeing the Flame Empire again. That somehow it had a much bigger role to play in what was to come.

"What's wrong, Kari?" Gatomon questioned from Kari's shoulder. She was slightly concerned by the fact that she had come to a quiet and complete stop.

Hearing her partners words Kari shook her head, trying to clear her mind of the stray thought before answering, "It's nothing Gatomon… nothing…" Then with a silent pull of the rail she lifted herself up into the car and took a seat beside her brother and Agumon.

As soon as Kari was aboard the DarkTrailmon released another blast of steam before closing the doors and began backing out of the station. It continued to backup until it was under the tunnel arch and vanished into the shadows. The only sign of its existence being the red light in the front and the pale yellow light being cast on the tunnel walls from the car windows.

* * *

"It's strange, but I think I knew back then that I would end up here…" Kari whispered herself in the mirror.

"What?" Gatomon asked after hearing Kari talking to the mirror, but not loud enough for her to hear.

"It's nothing, Gatomon… I was just thinking it was about time for lunch," Kari replied with an uneasy smile. She wasn't lying to Gatomon, she just felt that what she had been thinking was nonsense and wanted to drop it.

"Food does sound like a good idea. If there's one good thing about how we've ended up, it's how good the food is," Gatomon commented, doing her best to give Kari a reassuring smile.

"Then let's find Rosemon and FlameWizardmon and get something to eat," Kari concluded before checking her hair and makeup one more time in the mirror before standing up and moving towards the door.

Ever since they had met and befriended Rosemon they had added her to their meal times. The addition of one more member had made the experience more enjoyable than it had been when it was just her, Gatomon, and FlameWizardmon. As the saying went, the more the merrier.

Pushing the door open and heading out into the hall Kari gave her room one last look before closing the door and heading off in search of their two new digimon friends.

* * *

"Thanks again for the invite," Rosemon smiled as she, Kari, Gatomon, and FlameWizardmon exited the dining hall.

"We should actually be thanking you for coming. It's much better when we have more people to eat with," Kari returned her smile with a slight bow.

"You have a point. Food does tend to taste better when you aren't eating alone," Rosemon replied before taking a drink of water from the crystal bottle of water in her right hand.

"I don't know how you can say that when all you do during meals is drink water," Gatomon interjected with a sarcastic look.

"How is it that you think I maintain this perfect figure of mine," Rosemon joked as she ran her free hand down her side and over her hips. "But it's also because I'm a plant digimon, so I don't actually need to eat. I just need some clean water and a walk out in the garden to soak up some sun and nutrients from the soil. And the water that the castle brings in from the hot springs on the mountain is the cleanest anywhere," Rosemon added as she lifted the crystal bottle up and showed how the light of the torches passed right through the clear liquid.

"Then how are you feeling with all this rain, because I haven't seen any sunlight in the last three days?" Kari questioned with concern in her voice.

"Thanks for asking," Rosemon honestly smiled at Kari. She had really begun to like how kind and caring the young girl was, which made the fact that she was being held against her will an increasingly difficult thing to deal with. "Without any sun I've been feeling a little rundown lately, but nothing I can't deal with."

"That's good," Kari said with a relieved smile.

"But speaking of the garden, I have to go check on it. So this looks like where we part ways," Rosemon announced before she walked away, giving Kari and the others a goodbye wave.

"Unfortunately, it looks like I must also attend to some other business around the castle," FlameWizardmon stated before bowing slightly and vanishing in a burst of fire, leaving Kari and Gatomon alone in the halls of the keep.

"So what do we do now?" Gatomon questioned, looking about the halls for any sign of movement or a direction to go.

"I guess we can continue exploring the castle and see if we can get into some of the areas we couldn't before," Kari suggested. They had been using all of their free time over the last three days to search the castle, but it turned out to be a much bigger job than they had expected.

While from where they had were at the moment the Pyre Citadel appeared to only be a three story structure built of stone, mortar, and wood; but it eventually proved to be much bigger. Where they had been staying was only the top level of the castle. The massive stone and wood structure was actually built of four separate levels, each serving a specific purpose.

The lowest level, which was the biggest of the four, consisted of a large city that formed a U-shape around the castle. The keeps city was considered to be separate from the capital of the Flame Empire which was built in the valley below. It was constructed to house digimon who served the Empire and held jobs in the castle. The second level was built atop a large stone wall, separating it from the first level. Here vast fields of crops and orchards, which keep the castle and village feed, grew. Above that was the third level, which like the levels below it was built upon a high stone wall, contained all manners of shops, warehouses, storehouses, and unmarked buildings. This level is where many of the jobs within the castle were done; this included cleaning services, cooking, construction, and similar work. This was also the level where much of the governmental work was done since it was the site of the Empires senate.

Then there was the fourth level where the main part of the castle was. It included the guest rooms where Kari and Gatomon had been staying, homes for highly trusted member digimon of the Empire, like Rosemon and FlameWizardmon, the Imperial Courtroom, guards courters, and most importantly the highest floor of the three that made up the fourth level; the Flame Emperors Sanctuary. Whatever was up there besides from a place for the Emperor to sleep the two didn't know since it was one of the places they couldn't go. It actually appeared that only Babamon and Jijimon were allowed up to that level, but from what they had heard the two hadn't been up to the highest level since the Flame Emperor had left.

"From what we've learned Babamon won't let us go beyond the third level, or up to the Emperors Sanctuary. She has guards looking for us at each of those places," Gatomon reviewed their findings.

"It kind of makes you wonder what's up there," Kari noted with a slightly uneasy laugh.

"You'll find out after the wedding," a voice cut into the conversation, making Kari and Gatomon jump in surprise at the realization that they weren't alone.

The two quickly whipped around in the direction the voice had come from and found nothing but the bristles of a broom floating before them. Instantly following the bristles to the shaft and down to the hand gripping it, they found their gray haired jailor, Babamon.

"Babamon!" The two shouted in unison as they took three quick steps backwards until they ran up against the wall behind them.

"How… how… how long…!" Kari stuttered in a mixture of shock and fear. Fear that all their planning and exploring had just gone to waste and of what the small digimon leader would probably do to her and Gatomon now that she knew they were trying to escape. She feared that they would be separated and locked in one of the cold dark cells in the dungeons below the citadel which she had heard one of the guards talking about, only to be released for her 'arranged' wedding.

"Damn it…" Gatomon growled under her breath as she positioned herself into an attack pose ready to pounce on the small digimon or any digimon that tired to touch Kari.

Babamon just looked Gatomon and Kari over with an unfazed look before the ends of her lips curled into an entertained smile. The strange change in the old digimon caused the two to drop their defensive stances in exchange for ones of uneasy confusion and wariness. "Are you worried that I've discovered that you've been searching for a way to escape the castle."

Instantly Kari and Gatomon were back in their defensive stances. Unsure of what the small digimon had in store for them.

"You already tired to find holes in the citadels patrols, as well as blind spots and secret tunnels. I even though that you might try and just fly away, but it seems you're smart enough to realize that your partner and you would never be able to out run the flying mega digimon standing guard on the wall," Babamon laughed.

"You've been watching us?" Gatomon cautiously inquired, cursing that she hadn't noticed eyes on them the whole time.

"Nope," Babamon simply answered with a look that told them she was telling them the truth.

"Then how? And why wouldn't you?" Gatomon shot back.

Smiling bigger Babamon just looked the two over before answering, "I just guessed what you would have tried at this point considering how long you've been here. And as for the reason why I've let you wonder about without surveillance is that I know you can't escape the keeps defenses and…" The diminutive digimon paused and turned to walk away without answering.

Babamon took a few steps down the hallway before she began finishing her explanation, "…if you weren't trying, then you won't make a good Empress and mate for the Emperor," she finished with a haughty laugh which continued to echo in the halls even after she had disappeared around the corner.

"Great… We're impressing her with our determination…" Gatomon sarcastically stated, trying her best to contain her agitation at the situation.

"At least that means she's not going to try and separate us, or lock us up," Kari noted on the positive.

"That's true, but I don't like how confident she was about us not escaping. It just makes me more and more certain that this castles really as secure as that old hag claims," Gatomon growled, biting her nail in annoyance.

* * *

"My feet are killing me," Kari groaned as she extended her feet out from the stone bench she was sitting on and out into the cool rain, letting the clear liquid course over her worn and tired feet, bringing with it a refreshing feeling. "I never thought walking around without shoes all the time would be so difficult. I wonder if I could convince Babamon or Jijimon to give me back my shoes," she noted as she watched the water run across her hot flesh.

"It's the least they could do considering what they're putting you through," Gatomon commented with an annoyed grunt as she thought about the two digimon in question, but mainly Babamon.

They had spent the whole morning exploring the parts of the Pyre Citadel they had yet to, which even after more than three days of searching they had yet to check half of it; and that didn't included the levels of the castle below the third tier. Now, they were taking a break in one of the lower gardens they had found during their expedition.

"It's almost lunch time by now. Afterwards we can continue searching the castle," Kari stated, pulling her feet back in from out of the rain and shaking them slightly to rid herself of the water drops that still clung to her soft skin.

"So do you want to look for Rosemon and FlameWizardmon before we head to lunch?" Gatomon questioned, knowing full well Kari intended to.

"Yes, and maybe we'll find a way out of here after lunch," Kari said with the intent of reassuring Gatomon, but the moment the final few words left her mouth a cold chill ran across her skin. It was a strange sensation, as if the words were the precursors to some dark event. And worst of all, Kari was about to find out how true that feeling was when an unfamiliar voice began to speak.

"A way out could be arranged," a cold voice said from within the rain.

"Who!" Gatomon and Kari jumped in surprise for the second time today. Gatomon instantly shifted herself into a defensive position while Kari backed away from the rain covered grass beyond the stone overhang.

Just beyond the overhang three similar figures stood in the pouring rain which cascaded down their black bodies in a strangely frightening way. Their appearance was that of a crow with a human form. Their feet and hands were sharp talons. On their legs they wore a pair of white puffy pants tightened at the ankles by a purple armor. Around their waist they wore a gray cloth held up by a black belt to which a pair of swords, in hilts, were attached. Covering their torsos was a purple metal chest plate with a silver badge over the heart. Black feathers poked out from the armor at arm joints which quickly terminated into a slick red material that ran down to the wrist which were covered by purple bracers. Jotting out of the back was pair of large black feathered wings and a tail of longer black feathers. Covering their heads were purple metal helmets that ran all the way down to the beak and had a gold horn in the middle of the forehead.

"That answer is simple. We are the Karatenmon brother's malady," the Karatenmon in the center of the three introduced with a bow. The one that spoke appeared to have feathers of a much darker black than the two beside it, giving it a more opposing appearance than the other two.

"What do you want?" Kari uneasily questioned, ignoring the urge to run away being sent from her brain to her feet.

"We've come here for you," it simple replied with another bow.

For a moment all fell silent besides from the rain, then with a narrowed stare Gatomon turned to Kari. "Kari, this might be our way out."

"I… I… I don't think so…" Kari stuttered taking a step back from the dark digimon. The longer she looked at them the more certain she became of the feeling that she was much safer in the Pyre Citadel. Seeing and hearing Kari, Gatomon knew her decision and turned back to the Karatenmon with her claws drawn.

"She doesn't want to go with you! So get lost!" Gatomon threatened raising her claws up.

The two Karatenmon in back looked to each other and then to the one in front whose face remained completely emotionless as he stared past Gatomon to Kari. He just straightened out of his bow and narrowed his eyes before speaking, "That is truly disappointing to hear malady. Your decision leaves me no choice but to force you…"

He and the other two turned very serious all of a sudden and reached behind their backs drawing their swords. "Run, Gatomon!" Kari suddenly yelled through the fear, surprising the three dark digimon who had assumed she was too stunned to move.

Taking advantage of the threes surprise Kari and Gatomon turned on their heels and ran through the garden entrance and back into the halls of the castle. They charged down the empty hallways with little thought of where they were going. All they knew was that they had to put distance between themselves and the three digimon. And judging by the crashing and loud footsteps coming from behind them in the halls they weren't that far behind.

"We can't seem to find a way out of here, but those three manage to find a way in easily! And where the hell are the guards?" Gatomon demanded an answer from no one as she tried to ignore the stinging irony of them wanting the help of the guards that had kept them trapped. It was getting to be a very weird time for them.

"I don't know… But something definitely wrong…" Kari answered. Something had been feeling off for the last few days, ever since it had started raining, but she had attributed it to her current situation and nothing more. However, now she thought differently.

Luckily for the two they had just finished checking this part of the castle so they knew how to get around. It was only a few more hallways and corners before they reached the main section of the keep and hopefully some guards. But in a blurry flash of black, one of the Karatenmon appeared before the two, cutting off their escape route.

"That's enough running now," the Karatenmon stated in a cold tone as Kari and Gatomon slid to a stop in the hall. Behind them they could already hear the other two closing in, meaning that in a few seconds they would be surrounded. But they weren't going to go down without a fight, so Kari drew her D-3 from the folds of her dress and leveled it at Gatomon. "However, it seems that you continue to choose to resist, so I will have to be a bit more violent," the bird digimon added with a sneer before swinging his sword at Kari.

Karatenmon proved to be the quicker of the two as it rapidly became obvious that his sword would meet flesh before Gatomon could even start to digivolve. And all the two could do was cringe.

The tip of the blade was mere milliseconds from Kari when a voice came echoing down the hallways, "THORN WHIP," as a golden vine wrapped itself around the Karatenmons ankle. In the next instant the slack when out of it and the Karatenmon was yanked backwards by the leg. It first slammed into the side wall, dropping its sword in the impact, then, it was dragged around the corner, clawing at the stone floor, trying not to be pulled away from its target.

Without hesitation Kari and Gatomon returned to running, right past the corner the Karatenmon had been dragged down. "Get out of here Kari!" Rosemons voice order as she stood between her and the Karatenmon at the far end of the hall. Kari and Gatomon quickly obeyed and ran off knowing that the other two Karatenmon weren't far behind.

Down more halls and corners the two went until a dark voice from behind called out, "FEATHER FLARE!" Turning around Kari and Gatomon were greeted by a flurry of sharp black feathers tearing through the air towards them.

"FIRE CLOUD" A familiar voice called out before Kari and Gatomon could even formulate a reaction to the coming attack. As soon as the words were spoken the flurry of feathers burst into blue flame and was reduced to ash.

"Are you both okay?" FlameWizardmon inquired as he stepped in-between the two hovering Karatenmon and the Kari.

"Yes…" Kari answered in a shaken tone.

In a sudden confused burst a cloud of dust swept into the hall obscuring all from view. For the tense few minutes it took for the dust to settle there was no sound except for heavy breathing. When the dust finally fell to the floor Rosemon was now behind Kari, facing down the lead Karatenmon at the end of the hall.

"FlameWizardmon, where'd these three come from?" Rosemon questioned while she angrily stared down the Karatenmon she had fought throughout the halls of the castle, culminating in exploding through one of the walls and finding themselves with the others.

"I don't know… One second there's nothing, and then in the next their presence suddenly appears within the castle," FlameWizardmon replied.

That statement struck a chord with Kari, making her think back to their appearance in the garden. As they stood there in the rain it was as if they were ghosts. She could see them, but they didn't feel real. And that's when it clicked for her. "The rain…" she stated quietly.

"What?" Rosemon asked, unsure of how her statement was relevant.

"When they came inside and out of the rain…" Kari began to explain before FlameWizardmon finished for her.

"We could sense them. The rain must have been masking their presence," he angrily noted, narrowing his eyes in careful thought.

"But there's only one way that can be true. And if that's the case, then doesn't that mean…!" Rosemon rejoined, but cut short when the three dark digimon suddenly lunged forward with swords drawn.

Instantly Rosemon and FlameWizardmon went into defense mode, parrying and deflecting the three digimons attacks in a flurry of their own.

"Why are you here?" Rosemon growled as she grinded her Thorn Rapier against the dark Karatenmons sword. But the digimon said nothing in return. It just smiled at her with a twisted confident smile before it suddenly slacken its muscles, allowing Rosemon to drive it into the back wall and pin it there.

"HARMONIOUS SWORD" A voice suddenly called out. Turning Rosemon and FlameWizardmon found a fourth Karatenmon standing over Kari, swinging its sword down on the stunned girl, who could only drop to her knees and raise an arm over her head in protection.

The three had been using the fact that they were the same type of digimon to hide the fact that there was in fact four of them. And when Rosemon rushed down the hall to pin the only other Karatenmon she knew of she had left Kari open to an attack from around the corner she had left unattended.

In fear Kari closed her eyes and waited for the pain, thinking the last words she would hear would be the loud, NO, Gatomon, Rosemon, and FlameWizardmon released as they attempted to come to Kari's rescue; but she knew they would never be fast enough, and that her fate was sealed. All sound drained out of her world as she tried to brace herself for what was to come. But when a few seconds past and nothing happened she slowly opened her eyes and looked around.

In front of her Gatomon had stopped dead in her rush to Kari's aid and was staring in shock up over Kari's head. Beyond her FlameWizardmon was no longer fighting, instead he had his arms at his side and was smiling; while behind him the two Karatenmon had become rigid as stone. On further inspection she could see that they weren't actually holding still, but instead were quaking where they stood with wide eyes affixed to a singular location. It was fear that filled their eyes.

As Kari tried to figure out what had happened while her eyes were closed a flutter of brown fabric off to the side caught her attention. Slowly she turned her head, following the brown fabric up to a figure standing over her. The figure had come from out of nowhere and was adorned in familiar red and gold armor. On its back a sword as long as it's body rested, gleaming red in the torch light. The Flame Emperor had just saved her! He had returned to the castle just in time to intervene and save Kari from a bleak end.

Clenched in the extended hand of the Flame Emperor was the wrist of the very scared fourth Karatenmon. Its eyes were swelled up in a mixture of absolute fear and pain as the sound of its snapping bones and tearing muscles filled the silent hall every time the emperor's grip tightened.

"Welcome back your highness," FlameWizardmon and Rosemon greeted him with amused smiles; amused at the fact that they knew what was going to happen next.

"Th… Tha… Thank you…" Kari stuttered in a lowered voice as she moved out from under his shadow and to a safer location.

At her words dull unfocused blue eyes from under the helm looked at her, then, the Flame Emperor let out a long breath before looking back towards the struggling Karatenmon trapped within his grip.

"Let go..!" It demanded of him in an angry voice. It appeared that the digimon had been so preoccupied with the pain in its wrist and not who was actually hurting it. But it was soon to find out who it was addressing.

"Brother! No!" The two Karatenmon beyond FlameWizardmon cried out to their lone brother. However, their words went unheard as the trapped Karatenmon, enraged by the situation it found itself in, swung out a leg and slammed it against its captures chest. Instantly, even before the loud clang of metal could ring out, pain shot up the Karatenmon's leg and buried itself deep its mind. Trying to ignore the pain in its leg the Karatenmon turned to look at what it had struck, quickly finding its eyes meeting with the angry blue ones of the Flame Emperor.

"Flame Emp…!" The Karatenmon began to cry in a terrified voice, but before its words could finish the roar of flames drowned them out. Starting at the wrist the Flame Emperor held flames raced across the Karatenmon, engulfing it in searing heat and radiance. In absolute pain it thrashed about in the consuming fire, unable to even make the hand that held it shift in the slightest. The Flame Emperor held it in place like an unmovable fixed point in space. Then in a final burst of flame the Karatenmon stopped screaming, its body became limp, and it fell to its knees on the stone floor, still being suspended off of the ground by the emperors grip. Finally in a burst of data the flames dissipated and nothing remained of Karatenmon.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" Forgetting their fear in exchange for anger the two Karatenmon cried out in rage as they charged past FlameWizardmon, who just let them go, knowing what the only result of their actions could be.

The two rushed the Flame Emperor, swords drawn, ready to exact their revenge for their fallen brother. In flashes of black feathers the two were upon the lone ruler, who made no move to defend himself. He just watched the coming attacks with a look of complete disinterest. The swords bore down on him, milliseconds from his neck. As soon as he felt the tickle of pressurized air run across its armor the Flame Emperor shifted his body and threw his hand out at one of the Karatenmon, dodging both attacks and pinning one of the Karatenmon against the wall by the neck.

From the Flame Emperors feet Kari and Gatomon watched the Karatenmon struggle against the Flame Emperors grip to no avail. These digimon which had given FlameWizardmon and Rosemon so much trouble, and scared her and Gatomon, appeared to be nothing before the lord of the castle.

With a swift movement the armored gauntlet of the Flame Emperor's free hand was wrapped around the sword hilt sticking out over its shoulder. In a flash of silver the sword vanish from his back and found itself driven through the Karatenmon's stomach and a few feet into the wall.

"BROTHER!" The remaining Karatenmon screamed at the sight of his impaled sibling. That singular cry became the last word the pinned Karatenmon ever heard because it was quickly followed by the Flame Emperor twisting the blade and breaking the bird digimon in two. The two pieces fell to the floor in separate echoing thuds before bursting into data in the next second.

Releasing the sword he spun around and delivered a powerful elbow blow to the stunned digimons face, sending its head into the stone wall. The Karatenmon's body shuddered violently under the raw power of the impact as it slowly began to slide down the cold wall. In a big twitch the Karatenmon fell forward off the wall and landed at the Flame Emperor's feet. Without even the slightest hint of change or hesitation in his eyes the Flame Emperor watched the bird's body slump to the floor before lifting a foot up and placing it over the Karatenmon's head. Then with a forceful stomp he brought it down on his foes head, crushing it in a burst of flame and shattered stone. With that act the four enemies had been reduced to one, the leader.

"This is impossible… Our spies would have warned us if you had returned to the castle..." The lead Karatenmon howled in a lost voice.

At these words the Flame Emperor said nothing. He just looked at the Karatenmon with his cold gaze, but in it the Karatenmon found the answer to how the current events had come about. They were dead. The Flame Emperor had somehow discovered the spies watching him while he was away and he had killed all of them. All fifty of them!

The Karatenmon just continued to stare into the cold eyes of the Flame Emperor with his own lost eyes. He knew what was coming. He knew that he was going to die, and nothing could change that.

"I can't defeat you…" the Karatenmon spoke after a period of fear filled reflection, "BUT I CAN CHOOSE HOW I END IT!" It suddenly roared in a madding voice before charging forward past Rosemon.

The Karatenmon ran directly at the Flame Emperor as its body began to pulse and seethe with a dark aura. The darkness grew deeper and darker with each passing second, but despite its fearful change the Flame Emperor did nothing.

"NO! He's going to blow himself up!" FlameWizardmon suddenly cried as he dived forward and grabbed Gatomon near him before kicking off of the ground, getting the two of them as far from the blast as he could.

"Kari!" Gatomon called out to her partner still at the Flame Emperors feet. But in an instant there was nothing for her to do as the Karatenmon got before the Flame Emperor and in the next instant exploded in a powerful blast of black energy.

The blast sent incredible currents of pressurized air rushing over the three digimon and down the hallways of the keep. Shattered and broken fragments of stone that were once walls and floors ricocheted off of any hard surface as they were pushed along by the strong currents of air.

"Kari!" Gatomon screamed into the cloud of dust and debris that hovered where her partner and the Flame Emperor once stood.

A dim gray light now illuminated the blast crater and rain poured upon it from the gaping hole above where a ceiling had once been. The wall on the right had been blown out to reveal an adjoining room, made a mess by the focus of the blast intruding on it. On the left a small courtyard of wet grass covered in gray stone dust was now visible.

"Kari…" Gatomon pleaded of the smoke cloud, her heart sinking at the idea of how powerful the blast had been. It had been small, but it had been extremely concentrated; concentrated enough to turn much of the stone at ground zero to a fine powder.

In a blast of wind from the storm outside the cloud vanished, revealing the Flame Emperor clutching the barely conscious form of Kari wilted in his arm. She was alive and mostly unharmed, but it was obvious that she had taken quite a shock from the blast as she attempted to remain conscious.

As Kari's vision faded her last sight was that of the helm of the Flame Emperor, steam pouring off it with every drop of water that hit it. It remained motionless, eyes hidden in the black shadows, but with a slow turn it looked down at her. Faded emotionless blue eye's looked down at her with an almost confused sense to them. In that moment Kari became unsure of the future. Unsure of what awaited her in the days to come.

Only one though permeated her haziness as she slipped into the black,_ "His touch doesn't burn… it's almost warm…"_

_

* * *

_

To be continued…


	4. A Truth Revealed

**Chapter 4**

**A Truth Revealed**

Where was she? What had she been doing? These were among the questions Kari asked herself as she hovered in the fuzzy black that surround her. She might have remained in that place if it wasn't for a sudden jolt and someone calling her name. Her eye's flickered open and she found her brother standing before her.

"We're here. The Dark Area," Tai stated before he tilted his head and began looking out the window at the black sky.

That's right; she was on the DarkTrailmon with the other Digidestined. They had been traveling all night and had finally arrived at the first terminal of the Dark Area.

"You okay?" Tai questioned her with a look of concern.

That's right, she needed to say something.

"I'm fine, just still a little sleepy," she weakly smiled as she pushed herself up off of the bench.

"I could tell. You slept most of the way here," Tai examined her face for any sign of problems.

"I'm fine, Tai," Kari sighed, "What time is it?"

"It's actually about eight a.m., but you couldn't really tell here," Tai responded. "It seems that this place is well named since it appears to always be night here… or dark might be the proper word for it."

Turning to look out the window Kari was greeted by a dark starless sky. There was no moon or clouds for that matter. It just looked like someone had pulled a black sheet over the sky through which no form of light could pass. On the ground dark trees with even darker leaves grew out of the dark brown earth with patchy grass. Outside the other side of the cars window was a small platform built of gray wood, illuminated by dim lanterns hanging from the posts that went up to a wooden hanging roof.

"It's strange… I don't see any stars or even the moon, but I can still see everything around us pretty clearly," Kari noted with a look of interest.

"Izzy, brought that up a while ago too," Tai commented.

"And?" Gatomon questioned on behalf of her partner.

"We spent a while trying to figure it out, but eventually we went past this patch of glowing moss that answered that question," Tai replied. "The moss seems to grow on pretty much everything, giving off enough light to see by. Izzy said something about it being bio-luminescent"

"I see…" Kari said as she looked around for the rest of the group. Out on the platform she spotted the others gathered around Izzy's laptop which was resting on the railing, casting off a blue glow on everyone's face. "Any idea why it's always night here?"

"Not really sure," Tai replied. "It took us all night to get here, and when the sun should have been coming up we crossed into the Dark Area and that was a few hours ago… and so far no sign of it."

"I wonder what that means?" Kari questioned before following her brother out of the train car and to the group waiting on the platform.

As soon as Kari was off and the cars were empty the doors slid shut and the DarkTrailmon began to pull out of the small station. With a release of steam and a fading red light it vanished into the horizon, on its way to its next stop.

"So… anyone got an idea where we should start looking now that we're here?" Tai questioned the group. Normally, he would make a suggestion at this point, being the leader and all, but the Dark Area wasn't his choice to begin with so he was at a loss.

"I'm not sure… but there are a few locations that stand out," Izzy replied as he doubled clicked on three locations on the map, zooming in on them while he gave notes on them. "There's the Lightless City; the Black Towers; and last, the Dusk Yang Keep… but that one's the home of the Dark Master, so we might want to avoid going there unless we have to."

"Yeah, from what Darcmon told us, it's best to stay away from the different rulers castles unless invited or if we have business there," Sora commented, recalling the warning the bartending angel digimon had given them about dealing with the sectors where the rulers lived.

"The Lightless City actually sounds like it's the least dangerous out of the three," Ken stated. "And since it's a city I'm sure plenty of information passes through it."

"Ken has a point," Tai agreed in a tone of voice that told the group that he had made up his mind. "It's also the only one within walking distance considering we got off of the DarkTrailmon before we decided to look at a map," Tai concluded with a sigh.

When he had finished a dark cloud set in over the group. Tai was right; they had exited the DarkTrailmon and let it leave without think about the fact that two of the three locations would have required them to ride to another stop within the Dark Area if they didn't want to walk for days.

"I guess the decision was kind of made for us…" Matt laughed.

"Okay then, which way to the Lightless City, Izzy?" Davis jumped at a chance to talk again.

"According to the map it should be a few miles in that direction," Izzy answered, pointing towards a small mountain range in the distance. "This little Trailmon station looks like it's actually a part of the city, just separated by quite a distance."

"Right, let's get moving," Tai announced before walking off in the direction Izzy had indicated.

"What's the point of building a Trailmon station this far from the city," Mimi whined after they had been walking for an hour.

"It seems like it would take longer to walk to the station and get a ride than to just walk to where ever you wanted to go," Yolei agreed with her.

"I think it's like the Trailmon that took us to the Flame Terminal said," Kari stated, "they like it quiet here, so they put everything in the middle of nowhere."

"Kari's right…" Davis quickly agreed, "I guess if you wanted it to be quiet, you wouldn't want a Trailmon station in the middle of your city."

"There's that… and did anyone else notice that we didn't pass anything on the way here?" TK added as he scanned their surroundings. Ever since they had arrived in the Dark Area he had been on the constant lookout for any dangers laying in wait.

"What do you mean?" Cody inquired.

"I think TK's talking about the fact that when we were traveling on the Trailmon in the Flame Empire we passed all kinds of small towns and other structures, but here in the Dark Area, there was nothing along the route… not even any signs or lights…" Ken answered for TK who hadn't seemed to have heard the question, or had just chosen to ignore it while he kept up his defensive search.

"Yeah… I wonder why that is?" Joe questioned, not really expecting anyone to try and answer.

"For that matter if it wasn't for these glowing plants and moss we'd be completely in the dark," Matt commented. "No one seems to have taken the time to make this place as nice as the Flame Empire… or just didn't care to."

"It is kind of strange that there's so little here that shows any sign of life," Tai stated as he looked about, the conversation starting to make him and the others feel a bit on edge.

"It's almost like this place is dead…" Mimi said with an uneasy feeling to her words.

"But despite all of that… this place doesn't feel dangerous, but something is still wrong here…" Kari noted to the surprise of the others.

"I don't know whether that's an encouraging thought or a reason to worry more…" Tai commented, putting an arm over his sister's shoulders to comfort her.

After another hour of walking the Digidestined found themselves cresting a collection of large rolling hills. As they reached the top of the largest hill a large city of twisting black buildings came into view. The buildings appeared to have been built of either metal or stone and reached into the dark sky like cones of barbwire. There was very little light in the city; just enough of the pale white luminescence was present to illuminate the outlines of the structures and city.

"Wow…" A few awes went up from the group as they became transfixed by the sight.

"This is definitely one of those places you can only see in the Digital World…" Izzy commented as he lifted up his laptop and took a picture of the city in the distance.

"We should get down there," TK stated, pointing towards a path cut through the hills that ran all the way up to the city limits.

"You're probably r…" Tai began to agree before Kari interrupted him with an emotionless look.

"What's that?" Kari asked her finger extended out towards the center of the city.

Out in the distance, poking out over the top of a few buildings was five pure white points. The points looked as if they were made of crystal and were putting out enough white light to illuminate the city and light up the cloud cover above, which only now they realized was jagged and dark. Pulses of white light ran up and down the points, the time it took for each pulse to go down and return to the top seemed to signify that the structure ran all the way to the streets of the city.

"I have no idea… but it really doesn't look like it belongs…" Sora noted.

"Maybe!" Was all Tai managed to get out in response when a sudden blaring noise cut him off.

It sounded like a foghorn going off in the distance, but it quickly swelled up into a deep echoing groan, like that of an awakening, ancient, mechanical, giant. The grinding roar continued to grow louder and louder the longer it went on, as if the source were approaching.

"What the hell is that!" Davis yelled, covering his ear in an attempt to block out the growing noise.

"I don't know! But it can't be good!" Matt winced at the sound digging its way into his head.

"It just keeps getting louder," Mimi groaned, wanting the sound to stop.

"Is it coming...!" Tai began to state before something new started, "IS THE GROUND SHAKING!"

"IT IS!" Sora replied as she fell to her knees after losing the fight to stay up on her feet against the shaking earth.

"IT'S JUST THE GROUND AROUND US," Ken announced, motioning towards a patch of trees and a sign hanging from a set of chains in the distance that wasn't shaking, swaying, or moving despite how violently the ground shook around them. It was proof that only a select section of earth around them was being effect by what was happening.

"HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?" Yolei begged her boyfriend for an answer.

"WE SHOULDN'T HAVE…!" Kari cried, but her words were cut short as the concussive wave of force rushed forth from the city and crashed into them.

In an eruption of earth and energy that seemed to be coming up from the planet itself the Digidestined and digimon were lifted off of the ground and tossed into the air. All around them chucks of the hills and clusters of power rushed by, threatening to crush or burn them. Wordlessly the Digidestined tried to fight the current of force pouring up from the large dark pits below and avoid smashing into the upheaval of rocks, but in a final concussive blast of energy their bodies seized with pain and quickly turned numb as they began to black out.

In Kari's final moments she felt her arms close around Gatomon, pulling her tightly against her chest, as she watched the images of her friends and family vanish into the static fill distance while the land around them began to break up as well. Tightening her muscles in an attempt to brace herself she awaited an impact with either the ground or the flying debris, but if that impact ever came, she wouldn't know because the darkness of her mind quickly overcame her and the world faded away.

"Ahhh…" Kari's small voice groaned as her consciousness returned.

She was lying ragged on her stomach, a slight pain and tingle running up and down her body. Her clothes were a dirty and tattered, a good representation for how she felt.

"Ahhh…" With another pained groan she tried to push herself up, but her arms quickly gave out and she fell flat on her face, sending a new wave of pain through Kari's body and mind.

"Damn…" Kari cursed at the sensation.

Giving up on getting up Kari rolled onto her back and tried to look around. All around her walls of dark brown earth rose up into the sky. She had obviously ended up at the bottom of some crater, but was it the same one that had been created by the eruption of power from the Dark Area. The sky above her was a mess of gray storm clouds which threatened to unleash their wrath at any moment; but, beyond the clouds she could make out hints of the sun.

"If that's the sun… this can't be the Dark Area anymore…" Kari reasoned as she tried to take comfort in the return of the sun. But the secure feeling wouldn't last long as her vision began to fade once more.

Kari could feel the numbness overtaking her senses once again and knew that she was about to pass out again. In a desperate surge of adrenaline she tried to fight off the blackness for even a second longer as she tried to find any of the others. With a frantic search she found no one until her eyes landed on a white and purple striped fur tail hanging off of a ridge a bit above her.

"Gato… mon…" Kari spoken in broken words as she reached out to the tail, but her arm quickly fell to her side limp and lifeless. The sensation of it hitting the cold hard surface of the stone floor beneath her and the first drops of rain hitting her skin being the last thing she felt before her mind clouded over and her consciousness slipped away.

* * *

"Gatomon…" Kari groaned, awakening to the flickering light of a fire dancing on the wall gray stone walls.

Without another word she opened her eyes and stared up into the warm gray stone ceiling above her, wondering where the storm clouds and the rain on her face had gone. The surface she awoke on now was much softer than the hard one she remembered having fallen asleep on. It was a large bed, much bigger than any bed Kari had ever seen before. It was covered in a soft, thick blanket of dark brown fur under which silk sheets of gold and red were pulled tight. Her head was resting on a big pillow at the end of the bed. Someone had placed her at the foot of it, closer to the crackling fire in the fireplace in an attempt to warm her up.

"Where…?" Kari questioned. Her response quickly came in a rush of returning memories which ended with her blacking out at the feet of the Flame Emperor. "He saved me…" she noted with a conflicted voice.

"This isn't my bedroom in the castle," Kari said to herself as she sat up with a dull ache in her body.

The room she was in now was five times bigger than the room she had been given by Babamon. The ceiling was twice as high and the room was filled with different, more elaborate tapestries of gold and red fabric. The finest wooden furniture was spread around the room, but most notable among it all was a large table with a 3D map of Network being projected from it surface and a few weapon racks holding up large swords and other steel implements that flashed in the fire light. This definitely wasn't the room of a guest or any official of the Flame Empire, it was far too regal.

With a small groan Kari rolled onto her side and locked eye's with something that made her jump back in surprise. Right beside her was the crimson and golden helm of the Flame Emperor; it was hard to mistake it for anything else. However, just as quickly as she had recoiled from the shock she realized something about it… it wasn't attached to anything. The helm alone had been placed at the end of the bed beside her, the empty black eye sockets watching over her.

Silently and carefully, Kari reached out and tapped the helm with a finger, checking to make sure it was really empty. The metal felt warm from sitting near the fire, but it was cool enough to touch, so with cautious movements she picked the helm up and began to examine it.

"It's not as big as I thought it was…" Kari noted after turning it over and looking inside at the curves and metal work that gave it shape, "...It's almost like the helmets knights from my history books wore… like it could be worn by a…?" As Kari continued to muse about the helm she scooted to the edge of the large bed and sat up, but the moment she was up something at the edge of her peripheral vision stopped her last thought from leaving her mouth.

At the end of the bed with its back turned to the roaring fire was a large armchair covered in black fabric which seemed to drown out the light that touched it. Next to it was another like it which instead faced the fire, meaning someone had probably turned the one next to her so it was looking at the bed and her while she slept. And that being was most likely the one sitting, shrouded in shadows, in the armchair, its blue unfocused eyes staring straight ahead and down slightly.

"_The Flame Emperor!"_ Kari mentally gasped as she dropped the helm on the bed, allowing it to roll to one of the edges. She was completely paralyzed by his presence before her, memories of how she had felt when she had first seen him in the courtyard rooting her in place.

However, as she looked into his blue eyes, face hidden in the shadows cast by the fire, a new memory began to overtake her fear filled one. The longer she looked at him the more headway the memory of him saving her from the Karatenmon brothers made. For a few minutes she continued to stare at him motionless while trying to gather her courage. When she finally felt brave enough she pushed up off of the bed and got to her feet slowly, fearing that any fast movements might set off the emperor; but as she moved he gave no hints whether he noticed or cared.

"_Is he okay?"_ Kari questioned as she tried to shift her line of sight so she could get a better look at his face, but no matter how she tilted her head or shifted her feet could she see through the shadows.

Kari's curiosity as to the identity of the digimon that had risen to the rank of emperor slowly got the better of her and she began moving her feet forward. In a slight crouch and with small slow steps she moved towards him. After closing half the small distance between them she tried again to make out any features, but even thought the shadows had lessoned all she was able to see were his blue eyes shining in the flicker of the fire.

Taking a deep breath and steeling herself she began to move closer to him, but the closer she got the more she began to realize that the only way she was going to see his face was to get right up in front of him. This prospect was terrifying, but the urge to know continued to draw her nearer despite the lingering sense of fear.

After a few more steps she was now standing before the Flame Emperor, her legs feeling like they would give out from under her at any second if not for her need to know his identity keeping her up. With a shallow gulp she slowly leaned forward to get a look unobstructed by the shadows; but just as she was getting close the blue eyes flared up and emperor lunged forward. The room became a blur as Kari was thrown backward onto the bed, landing in the middle with a cushioned thud. As soon as she regained her senses Kari quickly attempted to get up, but she found it to be a struggle with her left arm and legs pinned against the mattress by the Flame Emperor.

The Flame Emperor was kneeling over her, his knees planted on either side of thighs and his right hand to hold her wrist against the bed. In a panic Kari tried to struggle, kicking her legs and trying to squirm out from under him. This was a very bad situation, in a bad location, in a bad position, and it could possible lead to something Kari didn't want to think about. However, no matter how much Kari struggled she couldn't make the emperor move even an inch.

"Please get off!" Kari begged, swinging out her free hand and striking the emperor in the side; but all she got from the attack was a painful stinging in her hand from impacting his armor.

"Please don't!" Kari continued to beg as she closed her eyes and strained her entire body in a final attempt to squirm free, but it met with no success.

Kari's strength quickly gave out in her panic and she was left panting, sore, and drenched in a cold sweat. However, now that she was out of strength she had time to realize that the emperor wasn't doing anything other than holding her down. He wasn't advancing on her or actually hurting her, he was just kneeling there motionless. So, summoning up her courage once more Kari opened her eyes and looked up and what she saw was enough to make her heart skip a beat.

She had expected to find herself looking up into the eyes of some fearsome digimon, a dragon type maybe, considering the look of the helm and armor; but what she saw now was no digimon. The face that had once been hidden under the helm was a pale pink in color, as if it hadn't seen the sun in years, a strong chin and cheekbones, a pair of lips pressed together in an emotionless smile, long dark brown hair that spilled down from the head and snaked out across the bed, and a pair of dull blue eyes. It was the human face of a boy who couldn't have been any older than Kari herself.

"You're human?" Kari questioned in a gentle whisper of surprise. She had been expecting quite a few things as of late, but not that revelation.

"…" The boy said nothing in return to her question. He might not have voiced himself, but at the mention of the world, human, his eyes seemed to have briefly altered in color and a bit of focus seemed to return to them. The changes remained for less than a second, so short that Kari couldn't be sure she had even seen them.

"Who are you?" Kari questioned unable to stop herself from digging into the mystery of the boy straddling her and gazing down so intently into her face.

"…" He didn't answer or show any sign that he had heard her.

"Why are you here?" Kari moved on to a new question in hopes of finding one he felt like answering.

"…" Again he didn't say anything, but the new question brought the change in color and focus again for a second.

"_I'm sure of it this time! His eyes turned a little brown for a second…"_ Kari noted to herself unsure of what it actually meant. Wanting to test her theory more she asked the question again, "Why are you here?"

However, this time there was no change in his eyes. Instead he began moving his right knee up the bed towards Kari's abdomen, catching her dress as he did, pulling if up along her silky legs and sending an electric chill up Kari's body, growing as it climbed higher and higher. When he was in his new position, straddling Kari's hips and shortening her dress to a length near that of exposure, he lowered his face closer to hers and stared into her eyes.

"_Is he even looking at me… really looking at me?"_ Kari questioned herself, forcing her head back into the mattress to increase the distance the boy had shortened.

Looking into his eyes Kari could see that he was looking at her, but it was an empty stare, as if he were just trying to give the illusion of trying to understand her. His eyes obviously worked just fine, but somewhere between his eyes and his brain he was losing something.

Without a word the boy again lowered his head, this time stopping just a few inches from her face. "Don't you think you're getting a little too close?" Kari inquired as a deep blush spread across her face.

The boy said nothing as he raised his free hand up and ran it along Kari's side, starting at her hip and running up to her shoulder. His touch sent a warm tickle shooting through Kari, making it difficult for her to think about what she was going to do if he expected some premarital fun.

"_Premarital fun! Now I'm starting to think like Babamon_," Kari berated herself for thinking that the marriage was actually going to happen. Though, considering she now knew that the emperor was in fact a cute human boy, she felt less worried.

"_I wonder what he's like… The long hairs kind of cute, but I don't know about being with a guy with hair longer than mine… Kari! Stop thinking like that! What's wrong with you?"_ Kari pleaded with herself to stop allowing such strange thoughts to cross her mind. This was probably the worst time to be thinking like she was.

"Where do you think you're going with that hand?" Kari suddenly yelled when the boys hand released her shoulder and moved until it was hovering over her heaving chest. "Seriously, don't even think about it," she added in a growl as she watched his hand twitch over her.

"I said stop," she yelled, swinging out a hand aimed at his face; but with lightning fast reflexes he moved his hand and caught her swing in midflight. He quickly followed up the catch by pressing her arm down into the bed next to her other one.

"_Oh, this can't be good," _Kari reflected on her current predicament. Pinned to a bed and straddled by a cute boy more powerful than any digimon she had seen before, and on that note, she had this real problem with constantly calling him cute. Her dress was an inch away from no longer being able to be called a mini-skirt and she had no free hand by which to defend herself. _"On the bright side, both of his hands are tied up holding me down so he probably can't feel me up now," _she added with a somewhat relived smile.

As if he had heard her last thought he began slowly dragging her arms together over her head. Kari arched her head and rolled her eyes back so she could see what he was doing above her. The moment her two wrists came together he released her left wrist and pressed her right down on top of it, pinning both to the bed with only one hand.

"That's cheating!" Kari argued as her vision constantly shifted from her pinned wrists and the boys now free hand.

"Let's talk about this," Kari tried to begin a conversation as his hand began to wander over her again.

His hand slowly moved over her on its way back to her chest, or that's what she had thought. It stopped its movement over her head and began to lower, making Kari cower back and close her eyes in fear of what he was going to do. In the darkness she felt the leather palm of his gauntlet gently come in contact with her cheek and stay there. With a surprised look Kari opened her eyes and looked back up at him.

"_They're slightly brown again…"_ Kari noted as she carefully considered what she should do next.

"My names Kari Kamiya," she stated with a confident and focused look, "what's yours?"

"…name…" he brokenly spoke letting Kari hear his voice for the first time.

"You talked!" Kari didn't hide her happiness at the fact that he was talking. "You're finally talking to me. I'm so happy," she continued on with a bright smile.

"…" he said no more and he returned to looking into her eyes.

"…_I thought I was making some progress… but…"_ Kari's thoughts trailed off when the Flame Emperors grip started to tighten. "You're hurting me!" She cried out when the armor at the finger tips began to feel like it was digging into her flesh.

Something had made him change for the worse and Kari had to figure it out before things got really bad.

"Please stop!" Kari begged as the pain grew and thin crimson trickles of blood began to run down her arm. "Please st…!" she cried again but choked on her second plea when she opened her eyes and looked up at him.

"_What is that!"_ Kari shrieked into the reaches of her mind at what she saw. She could still see the boy, but his blue eyes had deepened in color and his pupils had stretched out into points like those of a lizard or dragon. However, it wasn't the change in his eyes or attitude that scared her. It was the massive shadow behind him. Large arms covered in what looked like thick armor where arched over his and a sharp head, similar to the helm the Flame Emperor wore, looked down from above his shoulders. She couldn't look away from the dancing shadows of flames framing it or the feeling that it was looking at her, but was truly intimating was the heavy pressure she felt coming off of it.

"_It's huge… and it feels angry…"_ Kari noted to herself, ignoring the pain and fear to take in all she could about whatever she was looking at.

Before the pain could take over once more the shade vanished and the boy's eyes regained their focus and almost turned all brown. Looking up into them Kari could see that a horrified and shocked expression had overcome him as he stared up at her arms.

"…blood…" he whispered in a regretful voice before releasing her arms and scrambling off of Kari and the bed. Without a word he grabbed his helm and locked it into place on his shoulders with a metallic click before holstering his blade and heading for the door.

"Wait!" Kari called out to him in hopes of getting him to stay as she pushed herself up off of the bed and to the edge with her bleeding hands.

For a moment the Flame Emperor hesitated and turned to look back at him. However, Kari knew she wouldn't be able to hold him when the eyes she saw turned blue once more. When all of the brown had been drowned out by blue he turned away and grabbed his dark brown cloak off of the wall and wrapped it around himself before pulling the door open with a yank and storming out.

With a loud echoing slam of the door Kari was left alone in the room with the pain in her hands.

"What just happened?" She pondered from the edge of the bed, blood dripping off of her hands and soaking into the fabric of her flame colored dress. "I have to know," she forced herself up off of the bed and ran to the door. With a slight wince of pain she took hold of the handle and threw it open, her blood mixing with the old iron.

"KARI!" Gatomon suddenly called out, drawing Kari's attention to the left end of the hallway she found after exiting the Flame Emperors room.

At the end of the hall she found her partner charging down at her with a relieved expression on her face. Behind her Kari could see Rosemon chasing after her with a worried expression while the angry voice of Babamon echoed down the hall.

"Gatomon…?" Kari stated in slight surprise as she dropped to her knees and prepared to hug her partner, but when she remembered that her hands were bleeding she hid them behind her back.

"Kari!" Gatomon beamed as she bounded at her partner, but before she could reach her Rosemon snatched her out of the air with a diving grab.

On her back Rosemon slid within inches of Kari, Gatomon raised over her head so that she was looking Kari in her eyes.

"I got her…" Rosemon unhappily yelled in hopes of quieting her grandmother's shouts. "Do you realize how stupid it was to just come running up here? I don't even want to think about what would have happened if I hadn't told those guards that I would deal with you," she angrily added in a whisper so Babamon wouldn't hear.

"But how else was I going to find Kari after the Flame Emperor took off with her after the fight," Gatomon growled in response, apologetic hints in her voice directed at the mega digimon.

"I would have found a way to get you to… Kari!" Rosemon trailed off when she finally noticed the girl kneeling on the floor in front of them.

"Hey," Kari just smiled at the strange, almost friendly, exchange the two were having.

"Kari, are you alright? He didn't hurt you, did he?" Gatomon asked while still suspended in the air by the digimon beneath her.

"It's okay, Gatomon," Kari returned with an uneasy smile, trying not to think about the slight tinges of pain running through her hands.

"That doesn't answer my question," Gatomons eyes narrowed in distrust after seeing that her partner was trying to hide something. She had been with Kari long enough to know when she was trying not make others worry by holding something back. "Did he hurt you?" She insisted on an answer this time. Beneath her Kari could see that Rosemons face had turned to one of concern as well, not liking the idea that she could have been hurt.

Looking away Kari brought her hands forward, showing the five puncture wounds on the back of her hands and wrists. Warm blood was continuing to trickle out, but it had greatly slowed since they were first inflicted.

"I'll kill him!" Gatomon roared at the sight of her injured partner, furiously fighting to get free of Rosemons grip to chase down the opponent whose location she had no idea of.

"He didn't mean to do it!" Kari loudly insisted to her partner. Hearing Kari's adamant claim Gatomons body went limp as she stared at her partner in shock. "I know he didn't mean to hurt me. It was an accident…"

"How can you say…!" Before Gatomon could question her claim a familiar voice cut in over hers.

"What makes you so sure that he didn't mean to hurt you?" Babamon inquired, her voice sounding much softer than it normally did.

"I just know…" Kari replied in a quiet voice as images of the boys face played back in her mind. "I could see it in his eyes."

"Babamon," Gatomon growled, "Do you see what he did to her?" She added, pointing towards the trickles of blood running down her white skin. "I don't know what you're planning for Kari, but you can't want to see her hurt. She's just a human girl. He'll kill her if she has to stay with him. You have to let her go."

"Now that the girl knows the truth she will no longer find any locked doors here. She is free to leave if she should choose to," Babamon stated as she began to walk away.

"Just like that?" Gatomon questioned. She was sure it was some kind of trick since the diminutive digimon had been so intent of making Kari a member of the royal family. Even Rosemon was having difficulty believing what her grandmother had just said.

"Just like that," Babamon answered back with a real smile.

"I don't know what happened, but this is great!" Gatomon cheered, "We can finally get out of here and start looking for the others."

Despite Gatomons happy mood and the great news, Kari couldn't think of anything else but the brown eyes she had seen looking back at her. She was sure she had seen a plea for help in them.

"Let's hurry up and get out of here before she changes her mind," Gatomon happily smiled as she pulled at Kari's dress in an attempt to get her to her feet.

"I'm not leaving!" Kari suddenly proclaimed as she shot to her feet; her proclamation shocking her partner and Rosemon.

"We've been trying to escape this place for almost a week and now that we're free to go, you want to stay!" Gatomon balked with wide eyes.

"Why do you want to stay? What could you possibly hope to achieve by staying?" Babamon asked in a sly tone without turning back to look at the girl.

"I'll stay here as long as it takes. I won't leave until I can take him from here with me," Kari retorted with a determined look. Somehow the encounter with the boy had sparked her old fighting spirit back to life.

"Take who with you?" Gatomon questioned, but her words went unheard.

"How do you plan to make that happen?" Babamon stopped in her tracks, but still didn't turn to look at the girl.

Kari had no immediate answer for that question. She had managed to get a reaction out of him before, but never anything that she could call a stepping stone towards understanding him. Then, with a flash, inspiration struck and she had an answer, "I'll start by getting him to tell me his name." It was simple and didn't seem like much, but she knew it could make a big difference in him.

"Interesting… very interesting…" Babamon noted as she shook her head, hiding the fact that a big smile had spread across her face. "Do as you wish. Ask anything of the castle guards or workers and they will grant it. But if you really want, I could tell you his name," she tempted Kari.

"I don't know why… but I know it won't change anything unless he tells me," Kari gentle smiled at Babamon's back.

"Then, have it your way," Babamon waved her free hand, motioning for her granddaughter to follow; which she quickly did after shooting Kari a questioning glance. Kari just reassuringly smiled back at her. So with Kari's consent Rosemon left to follow the matriarch of her family.

"Kari… what is going on?" Gatomon begged for an answer in a voice of utter confusion. "Who do you want to tell you their name? And why is something like that worth staying in this horrible place?"

"The Flame Emperor," Kari simply responded as she stared down the empty hallway.

"We can't leave because you want him to tell you what kind of digimon he is?" Gatomon yelped, surprised that they would remain for such a silly reason.

"Not for his type, Gatomon. I want him to tell me his human name," Kari replied, her eyes still affixed to the distant corner.

"…human… name…?" Gatomon questioned, her eyes widening in wonder and surprise. She wasn't sure if she had heard her partner right. "Why would a digimon have a hu…" But before Gatomon could finish her new inquiry Kari looked down at her with a serious look.

"Gatomon, he's human… and I know he needs my help…" Kari said with a determined look as the rain outside finally stopped falling.

* * *

To be continued…


	5. Into the Sanctuary

**Chapter 5**

**Into the Sanctuary**

Kari awoke that day with a new sense of purpose. She was no longer a prisoner in this place. Instead, she was the rescuer coming to the aid of the boy; and that gave her actions meaning.

"Okay, don't give up, Kari," she cheered herself on as she pushed herself off of the bed and headed over to the closet to get a new dress. After five days she had mastered putting it on without having to call for Rosemon's help.

The silky fabric ran over her soft hands, reminding Kari of how much they had burned the day before, but now they were fine. After parting ways with Rosemon the other day she had returned an hour later with a special ointment that healed Kari so well that it seemed like nothing had ever happened. However, Rosemon had made one strange comment before she had left. She claimed that she was sure they had run out of the ointment the previous week and were awaiting a shipment from one of the merchants; but somehow a bottle just showed up in the clinic. It was strange, but Kari could feel that the Flame Emperor was somehow involved in a bottle just happening to appear.

"Have I said how much of a bad idea I think this is?" Were the first words out of Gatomon's mouth as she awoke, stretching her body on the soft fabric of the bed.

"I know, but I believe this is what I have to do. It's almost like this is the reason I came to Network," Kari smiled back at her partner despite how unsure she felt inside. "But thanks for worrying about me so much."

"Whatever… If you think this is the right thing to do, then, I'll support you however you want," Gatomon gave in, hoping that Kari really knew what was best. "But I can't believe that the Flame Emperor is human. I've never seen a digimon as powerful as him and to find out he's human… I wonder if it was a situation like when Ken was the Digimon Emperor…"

"I don't think that's the case," Kari spoke up to defend the fiery leader. "I know you've noticed how highly everyone here regards and cares for the Emperor. I don't believe he could invoke that kind of love from everyone with force or mind control."

"You have a point. Rosemon and FlameWizardmon seem like smart and kind digimon, and maybe even Babamon and Jijimon, and they seem to respect him. I've never heard them or anyone speak ill of him," Gatomon begrudgingly agreed with her partner. She didn't want to think of the Flame Emperor as some kind of beloved ruler since she needed to make sure he wouldn't hurt Kari again; and that meant being defensive and wary of him.

"What bothers me is what FlameWizardmon told use our second day here. He said that the Flame Emperor slowly became more and more despondent as time passed, until he stopped speaking to everyone. And from what I saw in the sanctuary, when he looked so lost and confused, I think that thing behind him was responsible for him changing," Kari remarked before pressing her lips together to spread the lipstick evenly. She was no longer required to dress and put on the make-up she had been ordered to in the beginning, but she had decided to keep up with it for her own sake. The dresses were very beautiful and were one of the most comfortable things she had ever worn. The jewelry was amazing and she felt that as long as she had an opportunity to wear such incredible things, she mine as well. However, she wasn't sure why she was continuing with the make-up. She barely worn any back home, but here she was putting on enough to improve all her aspects and give her a passionate, yet refined, look.

"When you say, thing behind him, what exactly do you mean?" Gatomon questioned back, showing a great interest in the large shadowy figure Kari had spoken of last night before she had fallen asleep.

For a moment Kari stopped her morning prep and stared off into the ceiling, trying to recall what she had seen. "I couldn't make out much of it since it was mostly shadows, but from what I did see of it was this hulking shadow that looked like it was burning. It was much larger than the Emperor and seemed to be hovering over his back, trying to draw him away. I could feel him trying to escape it, but once it became visible I lost any chance of getting through to him," Kari stuttered at the memory.

"And you plan to take that thing on again? Though to begin with I'm not sure how you're going to go up against a shadowy figure possessing an extremely powerful boy," Gatomon retorted, surprised by Kari's determination.

Kari's shoulder sank slightly at the thought before she looked into the mirror and sighed. "I really have no idea how I'm going to defeat that thing. In truth, I don't think I could beat it even if I could confront it. I'm pretty sure that even the two of us together couldn't even hurt it… I think the only thing we can do is help him defeat it by helping him remember who he is."

"I guess that makes sense, and getting him to tell you his name seems like a good place to start," Gatomon had to agree with her partners thinking even though she didn't like the idea of Kari having to confront the Flame Emperor more. "But if he starts to become dangerous or hurts you again, we're out of this place."

"Okay…" Kari smiled at her partner, praying that it wouldn't come down to something like that because it would force her to take back her promise to Gatomon. Kari had no intention of leaving the keep without the boy with her, no matter the pain and fear she had to endure.

*KNOCK* *KNOCK* Two quick raps against the thick wooden door announced the arrival of a guest on the other side.

"Come in Rosemon," Kari smiled towards the door, already knowing who was on the other side without hearing the voice. The flower digimon had shown up every morning at her door since they had first meet and today was no exception.

"Good morning," the door opened just enough for Rosemon to stick her head in and smile at the girl sitting before the mirror.

"Morning," Kari warmly greeted her back and prepared to stand up, but her movement was quickly stopped by Rosemon placing her hands on her shoulders and pushing her back down onto the chair.

"So pretty and soft, but you're not taking care of it right," Rosemon sighed as she stroked Kari's brown hair.

"Well, I…" Kari tried to justify the fact that her hair had become bunchy and was starting to develop split ends due to ill care. Who really had the time to care for it with everything that had been happening to her lately?

"If you don't take care of it you'll regret it," Rosemon smiled as pulled a jade comb from one of the vanity tables drawers and began running it through the young girls hair.

Kari sat in the chair, staring into the mirror with a light blush in her cheeks, brought about by the personal care Rosemon was giving her. Looking up higher into the mirror she spotted a soft nostalgic smile on the flower digimons face as she continued to brush and stroke her brown locks.

"Rosemon?" Kari said her name with a questioning tone.

Without losing the happy look on her face or coming out of her reflective state Rosemon responded with a calming, "Yes."

"I know it's probably none of my business, but you look like you're remembering something happy, yet somehow you also look a bit sad," Kari noted, blushing a bit more deeply at how forward she was being.

"Ahh… yeah… sorry," Rosemon's smile faded to a weaker version as her work on Kari's hair slowed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you stop. I just thought you might have something you wanted to talk about," Kari quickly apologized when she felt she had ruined the digimons moment.

"It's… It's nothing…" Rosemon sighed as she returned to working on Kari's hair. "I was just remembering the past a little…"

"Do you think you could tell me about it?" Kari looked at the reflection of Rosemon in the mirror with a gentle smile.

"I was just remember back when I first started working for the Emperor. Only a few days before then I had finally digivolved into Lillymon and I couldn't wait to start serving the Flame Empire. Imagine my surprise when my granny tells me that my job would be to be the personal maid of the Flame Emperor himself, just like my granny before me. I was so excited. Every morning I would help him get ready for the day along with FlameWizardmon. One of my duties was to brush his hair to a manageable state. He would just sit there and stare into the mirror while I talked his ear off," Rosemon really seemed to be enjoying sharing her story, near the end she felt the comb pulled from her hand as it became tangled in Kari's hair as she whipped her head around to quickly to face her.

"You were that close to the Emperor! Wait, does that mean you know what he is? That you've known all this time?" Kari looked at her with a shocked expression.

"You mean did I know he was a human? Of course I did. A lot of people in the castle know that. Didn't you ever wonder why no one questioned the idea of you baring his children? Humans and digimon aren't exactly compatible in that respect," Rosemon tilted her head and questioned Kari back.

"I guess the fear of being married off at sixteen was too much to think about anything else," Kari sighed, realizing that she could have spared herself a bit of worry and surprise if she had asked someone to begin with.

"I can imagine; but it's not like you could ask for more in a mate. He's powerful, cute, royalty… and funny… and kind… at least that's how I remember him…" Rosemon's voice turned to a whisper near the end as her smile turned sad. Kari had to listen hard to catch all of it.

"I'm sorry to ask this, but what happened?" Kari questioned as Rosemon pulled the comb free from her hair and returned to running it through her light brown tresses.

"What do you mean?" Rosemon slowed her pace to give the question more consideration.

"What happened to the Emperor? And if you were his personal maid, why are you now tending the garden instead?" Kari wasn't one to pry, but she needed answers if she was going to figure out how to help the boy she had just met the day before.

"It's a long story and the two are actually connected. It all started a long time ago when I was still a Palmon. Every day I would go out and play in the courtyard, soaking up sunlight and the feel of grass between my roots. And every day the Flame Emperor would come out to play with me. He was fun to be around and everyone in the castle loved him absolutely; but one day, everything changed. He left the castle for a whole month and something happened while he was away, some say it was a big battle or some new terror that attacked Network, but when he returned, he seemed different. He stopped coming out to play with me and the other young digimon and he began spending long hours in his room or on the royal throne; a place he rarely sat unless he was conducting official business. Everyone eventually just contributed it to him becoming more serious, but the problems only grew from there," Rosemon started the story with a smile, but as it progressed it drooped into a frown.

"You don't have to continue if you don't want to," Kari saw the pain in the flower digimons face and didn't want to push her anymore.

"No, it's important that you know. If you're going to help him, then I want to help you," Rosemon forced a renewed smile before continuing. "As you already know, I eventually started directly serving him when I became Lillymon, and for a while everything was great. He didn't say much, but I started to feel like things could go back to how they were in the courtyard years ago. For a few years things were fine, but one day he became very distant… and then violent…"

"Violent!" Gatomon had to chime in when that word came up.

"Unfortunately…" Rosemon sighed.

"I'm sure he didn't mean it. There must have been a reason," Kari suddenly found herself defending the Flame Emperor; and the strangest part was, she wasn't sure why.

"I'm sure he didn't either. The person that he was could never hurt those that are close to him. But one day while I was brushing his hair he got angry and released his flames. FlameWizardmon only got lightly burned since he's a flame type digimon, but me, I got it really bad…" At that thought Rosemon ran her hands over her flesh, obviously recalling the feeling of having her body as Lillymon burned. "I spent three days in a concoction of pure spring water and that healing ointment I used on your hands. After I got out I couldn't wait to get back to my duties."

"You couldn't wait to get back to your duties!" Gatomon gasped in surprise at the floral digimons claim. "He almost burned you to a crisp and you couldn't wait to go back to serving him!"

"Of course. I loved serving him, even if it meant I might get hurt. He's given everyone of the Flame Empire so much, and my job allowed me a chance to repay what he's done for us," Rosemon stated as if her determination should have been obvious. "Unfortunately, my granny claimed it was too dangerous for me to return to him since I was a plant type digimon, and hence, very susceptible to fire. FlameWizardmon got to say on because he's got a natural immunity to fire, but even he couldn't survive a real blast from the Emperors flames."

"I'm sorry about what happened," Kari looked up at her with watery eyes.

Rosemon didn't say anything as she dropped to her knees and clasped Kari's hands between hers before making a solemn plea. "Don't be sorry, just save him okay. Promise me."

"I promise," Kari gave Rosemon a serious look as she made her deep resolution.

"Thank you," Rosemon leaned forward and hugged her tight for a few seconds, before standing back up and returned to finish brushing Kari's hair.

"Did Babamon ever say anything to you about what happened? Like why he lashed out like that," Gatomon questioned, wanting to know what might set the Emperor off if she was going to left Kari get near him.

The rose digimon paused for a few seconds to think and reflect on the day before coming back with, "She didn't say anything directly to me, but she did say something as she left my room. She only whispered it with her back to me, but I heard an apology to me slip from her mouth. She said that she was sorry, then something about knowing it could happen and some kind of bond growing increasingly unstable."

"_Bond growing increasingly unstable…"_ Kari repeated to herself as she let Rosemon finish with her hair.

* * *

"I'll ask again. Are you sure about this?" Gatomon questioned her human counterpart.

"Yes," Kari gave her a simple but decisive response as she kept her eyes locked on the stone and wood staircase rising up before her.

She, Gatomon, Rosemon, and FlameWizardmon were standing at the base of the stairs that led up to the Flame Emperors Sanctuary. Only Kari had been given permission by Babamon and Jijimon to ascend the stairs and seek out the Flame Emperor. FlameWizardmon would also be going with her, but only because he was still the attendant of the Flame Emperor.

"Then if you're ready, shall we go?" FlameWizardmon took one step up the stairs and turned to Kari, waiting for her to begin ascending as well.

"I don't see why I can't go as well," Gatomon grumbled from Rosemon's shoulder.

"Because too many new faces at once might set him off and even if you're with her when that happens you won't be able to do anything against him. So it's best that we don't do anything to provoke that kind of response, okay," Rosemon explained, hiding the fact that that wasn't the only reason.

The other reason she wasn't given permission was because Kari had requested of Babamon that she not. Kari knew that Gatomon was a very loyal friend and she could be very protective of her. She also knew that if anything happened like the day before with the Flame Emperor and the bed, Gatomon wouldn't be able to hold back lashing out in her defense; which would end badly for her partner and derail her attempts to reach him.

"She's right, Gatomon. While I try and talk to him I want you to take some time and look around the city. See if anyone around the city's heard anything about the others," Kari quickly cooked up a way to kill two birds with one stone. She could get Gatomon's mind on something else and hopefully learn even a little bit about her missing friends.

"No way! I can't leave you here by yourself!" Gatomon protested, surprised by the very fact that Kari would suggest such an idea.

"Don't worry, Gatomon, I'll have FlameWizardmon with me, so I won't be alone. Instead, you can go and put some of our worries about the others to rest. And if you find some of them we can use the royal resources around here to bring them to us. We mine as well use them while we have access to them," Kari pleaded with her partner to realize that they both had things they needed to do.

"I can't believe I'm agreeing to this, but I'll do it. Just, please, be careful. Don't do anything drastic and if that psycho starts to act even the slightest bit weird, you get away from him. Promise me," Gatomon stared into her human counterparts eyes, praying for her to be safe.

"I can promise to be careful, but I can't promise the rest. Getting through to him isn't going to be easy or safe. I'm going to have to put a lot on the line if I want to reach him, so I'm sorry Gatomon," Kari took a step back from her partner, up the first step, but never broke her determined gaze.

"You just couldn't lie to me to make me feel better about this, could you," Gatomon sighed in defeat under her partner's resolute stance. "Fine, I'll still go, but I beg you to be smart about this."

"Right," Kari nodded in confirmation before she turned and indicated to FlameWizardmon to lead the way.

"I'll do my best to look after her, but I still believe there's enough left of the old Emperor that he won't harm her. Either way you have my assurance that she'll be safe, even if it should cost me my life," FlameWizardmon swore his oath to reassure Gatomon's stressed mind. After that he began ascending the staircase ahead of Kari while she followed a few steps behind. Gatomon and Rosemon continued to watch them until they vanished at the top and down the hallway.

"There's no point in standing around here. Let's get down to the city and see what we can learn about those missing friends of yours," Rosemon tried to change Gatomon's focus as soon as she could. She could already feel the feline digimon tensing up on her shoulder; fighting the urge to charge up the stairs after the child of light.

"…" Gatomon said nothing as she continued to stare up the empty stairs.

Rosemon sighed to herself and came up with another idea to try. "I'll have a guard posted here with the instructions that the moment she returns, or something happens, that they come and find us in the city. I'll even make sure they're a fast flier so you'll know right away."

Gatomon seemed to respond to this idea and some of the tension left her body. "Fine, but make sure they're really fast."

"Of course. I even have the perfect one in mind," Rosemon smiled warmly at her as they turned and headed for whatever position the guard she planned to use was posted. Gatomon gave the staircase one last look over her shoulder before Rosemon turned a corner and it vanished from sight behind a wall.

* * *

"_Be calm… Be calm…"_ Kari repeated over and over again in her head.

Despite her brave front before Gatomon and the determination in her heart, she was still terrified. She had no misconceptions about the fact that the boy she was seeking out was very dangerous. He had power that rivaled the strongest digimon she had ever seen and deep down, she had a sinking feeling that he had yet to show the limits of that power. In short, she was pretty sure that if he went after her with the intent to kill, she was going to die.

Ahead of her FlameWizardmon walked alone calmly. Every so often his eyes would shift back to Kari with a bit of concern in them, but they were only glances which she expected were him checking to see if she was thinking about chickening out. At each door they came across in the hallway he would slowly open the door and duck inside, instructing Kari to stay outside. Each time so far he would exit a few seconds later, shake his head no, and close the door behind him.

"Is this normally how you track down the Flame Emperor?" Kari questioned her guide. She felt it was strange that considering the Emperor was the lord of the castle and the most important person in all of the Flame Empire that even his attendant didn't know exactly where he was.

"Yes, with most digimon in the castle I can track them with my senses, but when the Emperor isn't engaged in combat or venting his flames, no one can detect him," FlameWizardmon admitted as he eyed the next door.

"How's that? How does he hide a power as big as his?" Kari found it hard to believe FlameWizardmon's claim that it was possible to sense every digimon in the castle, no matter their level or power, but not the greatest one in the whole castle.

"It's not a matter of suppression or an inability on our parts. It's that the Emperor's power is different. Like all of the ten leaders his powers masked to all but to the other rulers," FlameWizardmon replied.

"I see…" This time Kari followed his eyes to the door he had been staring at for the last minute. It was like every other door in the Sanctuary, a heavy piece of dark brown wood studded with black metal rivets, but this one had a little something extra. Hanging from the middle of the door was a green sign, obscured by a thick layer of dust, meaning it hadn't been cleaned of maintained in years. "That door? Are you going to check it too?" She looked to the small man for an answer.

FlameWizardmon paused and thought for a few seconds before answering her. "No, he wouldn't be in there." With that he began moving on again, only stopping when Kari called up another question.

"Why not? What's in there?" She was trying her best not to pry, but something about the way FlameWizardmon had been looking at it told her that he wanted to talk about it.

Again the fire-type paused and thought before he answered. "The past…"

"The past?" Kari inquired after the strange response.

Not wanting to push FlameWizardmon any further she walked over to the door to get the answer herself. She took the sign down from the door, closed her eyes, and gave it a powerful blow of air, blasting a cloud of gray dust into the air. After a few second, when she felt the dust had settled again, Kari opened her eyes and looked at what she held. The sign was a lighter green than it had originally appeared to be with white flowers running along the frame. In pink letters in the middle of the sign she found the answer to her question.

"Lillymon's Room," Kari read off the sign. Looking up from the sign she inspected the door. The handle and space beneath the door and the floor were caked in just as much dust as the sign had been; meaning that no one had come or gone through the door in a long time.

"This was her room back when we both served the Emperor. Before that day happened," FlameWizardmon didn't dare continue on with his story.

"It's okay. Rosemon told me all about it this morning," Kari looked over to the slightly dower digimon.

"I see. That means she must really trust you, you know," FlameWizardmon smiled at the thought along with Kari.

"I'm glad. She's a really nice digimon and she did save my life against those Karatenmon yesterday… or was it two days ago? I'm still not too clear on how long I was out," Kari laughed nervously.

"You were only out for a few hours, so it was last night," FlameWizardmon answered her.

"That's good. I'd hate to think I slept through a whole day," Kari rejoined before her eyes returned to the sign, something about it bringing up a new question. "Who gave her this sign?"

"The Flame Emperor did. It was an evolution day present for her. It was her favorite gift, past and present," FlameWizardmon explained, a flash of remembrance shooting across his face.

"That was nice of him," Kari smiled, more confident than ever that deep down the Flame Emperor was a good person. "But if it's her favorite gift, why'd she leave it behind?"

"She wasn't too happy about being forced to leave her position after the incident. So when she was forced to leave she left everything she owned in the room, claiming that there was no point in moving it since she would be moving back in some day. Unfortunately, that day still hasn't come despite her higher evolution," FlameWizardmon continued to explain.

"I see. That sounds just like her," Kari smiled warmly at the sign as she carefully hung it back on the door and straightened it out.

After that the two reached a bend in the hallway. The door beside Kari was one she remembered from the night before; on the other side of it were the Emperor's personal quarters. Around the bend the boy in question had vanished behind the other night was a long hallway with three more doors. There was one on the right and one on the left, and both looked exactly like the others in the hall; however, the door at the very end of the hall was the only exception. It was a large set of black metal doors the same size as the hall. They almost appeared as if they were impossible to open into the limited space of the passageway.

"What's with that door? Where does it lead?" Kari inquired, pointing to the end of the hall. Something about the big black door screamed for her attention.

FlameWizardmon diverted his eyes and hand away from the door to the Emperor's room and looked to the girl. He didn't have to look down the hallway or follow her eyes to know what door she was talking about. "It's the door to the Flame Emperor's personal training room. Why do you want to know?"

"Because I think he's in there," Kari responded, mystifying herself with her own statement.

"Are you sure?" FlameWizardmon seemed surprised by her statement as he stepped ahead of her and stared at the black doors. "What makes you think that?"

"I can't really explain it, but the moment I caught sight of the door I was sure that we wouldn't find him in any of the other rooms," Kari responded in a distant voice, her mind trying to make sense of the feeling she was having.

"I wonder…" FlameWizardmon watched her from the corner of his eye for a few seconds before returning them to the door. "If that's the case, then we'll have to wait for the lord to come out."

"Why?" The fire digimons statement was enough to finally pull Kari's attention from the door.

"Once the lord goes into that room the doors seal to protect the castle from his power. If they didn't, he'd destroy the castle in the process of his training. After he's gone in the doors they can only be opened from his side," FlameWizardmon explained as he continued to eye the door. "Which being the case is our way of checking if you're right."

At the statement FlameWizardmon walked down the hallway, Kari following a few feet behind him, and up to the doors. He then pressed against them hard, but despite the pressure he was exerting the doors neither budged nor made a sound. They were obviously locked down tight, maybe by something other than locks.

"It looks like you were right," FlameWizardmon sighed at the fact that they couldn't do anything now. "Maybe we should come back later?" He turned and suggested to Kari, but left the decision of what to do next to her.

"I'll stay here and wait. I don't want to miss him when he comes out," Kari stated before taking a seat against the wall.

"Are you sure? He could be quite a while," FlameWizardmon replied with a tone of concern.

"I'm sure. Something tells me that I should wait for him," she smiled up at the small man.

"Understood," FlameWizardmon smiled back at her before he started walking down the hall. "Let me get you a few things so that you'll be comfortable. These floors aren't exactly comfy and they can get kind of cold when you're just sitting around."

"You don't have to," Kari felt like he was making too much of a fuss. The wooden paneling of the floor and the smooth stone of the wall really didn't bother her that much.

"You forget malady, but I am an attendant to the Emperor; which means I can't possibly have one of his treasured guests putting up with such uncomfortable conditions. It would be an insult to my profession, predecessors, and the Flame Empire itself, if I did. Especially if that guest might someday be our future Empress," he added the last part with a playful smile filled with stitches before disappearing behind the corner.

It took Kari a few minutes to remove the deep blush from her cheeks that FlameWizardmon and caused to arise. It wasn't only the fact that he was actually suggesting that the marriage might still happen, the marriage to the cute and power boy, but the way he was acting. She had only even seen such pride in a position of servitude in movies about ancient royalty, but here was FlameWizardmon, acting like there was no higher calling in all the Digital World; and when she thought there was a possibility that same respect could be directed towards her someday, she just had to blush.

With FlameWizardmon's departure Kari was left in the hallway alone. Up until that moment she had never been alone in the castle; even when she took her nightly bath she had Rosemon sharing the hot springs with her. Now that she was alone in the silence, she could feel the true immensity of the castle around her and the challenge that lay ahead of her. Both seemed insurmountable, but beyond the surface of the problems she knew that the reward was so much greater.

"You can do this Kari. You're the only one who can…" she encouraged herself forward as she gazed at the black doors, awaiting the moment they would open and things would finally begin anew.

* * *

Sometime around sunset Kari awoke after a short nap. Sitting in the hallway all day, wrapped up in the light blanket and resting on the large pillow FlameWizardmon had procured for her, she was left with little to do but watch the door and take small naps. The one she had just awoken from had been the ninth one today.

"I'm not even tired, but I keep falling asleep. I might be getting lazy in this place," she yawned as she cast off the blanket and wearily got to her feet. Since coming to the palace she hadn't had to do a thing for herself. Her food was cooked and served for her. The bathes were drawn before she even set foot in the bathroom; and the cleaning was done on hourly rotations that were finished before she could even pick up a rag. In this place all of her chores were done for her.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling it she began doing a few stretches she had learned in yoga class to get the feeling back in her body and get the blood flowing again. It was slightly painful in the beginning due to hours of sitting with her legs cross in what was only a comfortable position for short periods of time, but was apparently agonizing after hours. However, she eventually worked them out and was back to her old limber self.

"So much better," her voice turned more pleasant when the aches were gone. "He still hasn't come out of there. Could he really be training for all of this time? I haven't done anything but wait all day and I'm starting to get sleepy," she added with a growingly annoyed glance towards the doors.

When her thoughts turned to sleep she began wondering if the Flame Emperor needed to sleep, he was human after all. He had a bed in his room, but she had no proof that it was ever used. Actually, the sheets she had slept on after being knocked out looked and felt pretty new; but that could have just been due to FlameWizardmon cleaning duties. Rosemon had mentioned something about him spending a lot of time on his throne, maybe he slept there. Maybe last night he had been sleeping in that armchair, which is why she was able to get so close to him.

Thoughts like those were quickly banished from her head when the pressure in the hall suddenly began to change. Somehow the air in the hallway felt heavier… and warmer too. However, Kari didn't have time to think about that as a loud metallic clicked echoed forth from the doors and they began to open. As they did, she could only stand thirty feet from the doors with a stunned expression on her face as the Flame Emperor emerged, pushing the two doors open slowly.

Kari's astonishment gave way to observation after the Emperor's first step. His armor was heavily scratched, in steep contrast to the pristine state it had been in last night, and his tattered cloak that fluttered behind him was quickly being devoured by flames. All of these things could be contributed to some tough training, but it was the first step out of the door that he took that revealed something was seriously wrong. The commanding and strong stride he had exhibited in the past was gone and now replaced by a shaky and uneven gait.

He took the second step too quickly and teetered to one side. To correct his movement he planted the third step as quickly as he could, saving him from falling over. The fourth was an attempt to remain moving forward as his cloak tore from his body and fell to the floor in a burning pile. The fifth and sixth were increasing unbalanced until he had to use the seventh one to steady himself and stop his movement. However, the attempted failed and he had to take a ninth and tenth one to keep from falling forward.

After ten steps the Flame Emperor found himself staring into Kari's crimson eyes, now level with his dull blue ones thanks to the fact that he didn't appear to be able to straighten out. His strange behavior brought out a question from Kari, who had been worried for hours that she wouldn't be able to say anything to him when he did show up. But concern now flood over and drowned her worry.

"Are you okay?" She was able to talk, but didn't know how to handle the situation. She didn't even know if this was a situation or was it normal for the end of his training.

"…" In response to her words the Emperor eye's flickered between blue and brown and he forced himself to straighten out and for a few second it appeared like he planned to answer her, but before he could his legs gave out and he fell forward into Kari.

"Whoa!" Kari yelped as he collapsed into her chest.

The sudden weight of him hitting her was too much for her to handle and sent her back and down onto her butt on the cool floor. The fall slung the Emperor's head over her shoulder, dislodging the helmet from his head and sending it tumbling down the hall with hard metal knocks. Free from the helm his incredibly long locks of dark brown hair spilled out across her and onto the floor.

"Hey, are you okay? What's wrong?" Kari fought through the blush at the idea that this might turn out similar to her encounter last night to ask her question of the boy slumped over her.

When she didn't get an answer she reached back and placed the hand she wasn't using to prop herself up on his forehead, hoping that she's be able to lift him enough to see his face.

"OWWW! He's burning up!" She yelped as she pulled her hand away from the flesh of his forehead like someone who had just touched a hot stove. Acting out of instinct she did her best to quickly lay him on the floor and examine him.

When she had first touched him she had contributed the heat to him being the Flame Emperor, but upon seeing his face she could see that something was definitely wrong. The boys face was twisted up in pain and sweat was soaking into his hair and running down his face. Seeing him like that Kari couldn't think of anything else to do but what she did.

"FLAMEWIZARDMON! ROSEMON! HELP! COME QUICK!" She cried out as loudly as she could as she fussed over the writhing form of the Emperor.

For a few seconds only the pained moans of the Emperor could be heard, but in no time at all the sounds of footsteps came beating down the hallway.

"Kari! Are you alright?" Rosemon cried as she came sliding around the bend with Gatomon barely clinging to her shoulder and FlameWizardmon a step behind her.

From the looks on all of their faces she guessed that they believed that she was calling for help for herself. It was understandable considering they were all somewhat worried that the Flame Emperor might do something to her, but when they saw him lying on the ground with Kari over top of him, they didn't know what to think.

"Help! He's burning up," panic was evident in Kari's voice now.

"What happened?" FlameWizardmon and Rosemon questioned in perfect unison as they stepped in on either side of their fallen lord, trying to figure out what to do.

"I don't know. He just came out of the doors, took a bunch of shaky steps, and then fell over on me," Kari explained.

"This can't be good. The hallway's hot and the air's getting hotter and thicker," FlameWizardmon called attention to the changing environment.

"Is this what I think it is?" Rosemon looked to the fire digimon with eyes that said there was an answer she didn't want to hear.

"Yes. He's got a fever," FlameWizardmon responded.

* * *

To be continued…


	6. Fervor

**Chapter 6**

**Fervor**

Five minutes ago Kari had been sitting outside the Emperor's private workout room and now she was in his personal chambers, standing at the side of the Emperor's bed, watching the boy painfully writhing under the heat of his own body. The bed sheets under him were already beginning to turn a dark red as his sweat soaked into them while he gripped them tightly in his clenched fists.

"Is he going to be all right?" Kari questioned the two digimon attendants in a slight panic.

After discovering that the Emperor had a fever, Rosemon and FlameWizardmon, had carefully picked him up and rushed him to his room. FlameWizardmon was now in the process of removing segments of his armor so that the heat wasn't being bottled up under the pieces of metal, while Rosemon ran to get water and towels.

"I'm not sure. This has only happened once before," FlameWizardmon didn't stop his work as he answered her.

Kari wanted to ask when that last time was, but after seeing how frantically FlameWizardmon was working she felt it would be better to wait until things calmed down.

Eventually, FlameWizardmon was able to remove all of the metal, leaving behind a pair of brown pants and a black undershirt. The clothes were probably there to keep the armor from pressing directly against his skin and to make sure that nothing important got caught in the joints of the shielding.

"Is there anything I can do?" Kari inquired, but before anyone could answer the door to the room burst open and Rosemon reentered with a large wooden bucket of water in her arms and Babamon sitting on her shoulder.

"I'm back!" Rosemon shouted too loudly as she set the tub of water down beside the bed. Before she could straighten out Babamon leapt from her and onto the Emperor's bed.

"This…" Babamon whispered uneasy as she set about examining the Emperor. As she took his pulse and pried open one of his eyes, which were moving about rapidly in the socket, her expression grew increasingly worried. The last thing she did was place her bare hand on his forehead and kept it there for a few seconds despite the pain of the heat radiating from its surface. "This is definitely like that fever."

"That's bad granny. What can we do?" Rosemon spoke as she watched her precious Emperor continue to squirm about in sickness.

"All we can do is try and help him through it, and hope that it breaks soon," Babamon answered as she eyed the patient with deep concern.

"But granny, he barely survived the first one," Rosemon shot back, sending a worried chill through the group.

"Girl, you said that you planned to help our Emperor, didn't you?" Babamon pried her eyes away from her lord and to Kari, who had been watching everything unfold from a distance, worried that she would just get in the way if she tried to help.

"Yes, of course I did," Kari retorted, feeling that maybe now that the boy was sick Babamon was questioning her resolve.

"Then soak one of those compresses in the tub and put it on his forehead," before Babamon even finished Kari had already dunked one of the rags into the bucket and folded it over before placing it on his forehead. "Good. It's going to get dry quickly with the heat coming off of him, so be ready. You're in charge of making sure that stays wet, or else his fever might get worse."

"Right!" Kari gave a determined answer that said she understood how important her roll was. Turning back to the Emperor she could already see steam rising off of the compress. The heat he was generating was more than a normal human could be possible of, let alone survive.

"You also need to be sure and stay hydrated yourself, girl," Babamon looked her sweat soaked dress over.

Kari had been mentally blocking out the straining heat pouring over her and drawing a flood of sweat from her skin for a while, but if it went on too long she knew she would pass out.

"Is this heat seriously coming from just his fever? It feels like an oven in here already?" Gatomon gasped under the influence of the heat, unable to believe that anything not on fire could heat a whole room to such a staggering degree.

"Unfortunately, with his power and element it could get even hotter in here if his fever doesn't eventually break," Babamon remarked as she swung her broom towards the windows, indicating for her granddaughter to attend to them.

The windows were narrow slits in the walls on one side of the room. They weren't big or wide enough for the view they provided to be considered remotely scenic; instead they were designed to bring in sunlight in the morning and let in the fresh air that blew down from the mountains. Over them sets of steel shutters had been affixed to the walls on hinges, there being one shutter for each window. Rosemon gripped the handle of each and pulled them open, in doing so trying not to think about how warm the metal already was and instead enjoy the breeze coming in and creating a bit of circulation.

Taking a step back from all the open windows Rosemon quickly felt the breeze die down. The coolness that drifted in on the sweet mountain winds were quickly being consumed by the heat radiating from the Flame Emperor, a testament to the ideal that not even nature could challenge the lord of the keep. However, despite the losing fight, the rising temperature slowed and felt like it was leveling off at just slightly above unbearable.

"Rosemon. FlameWizardmon. You two need to start making up some fruit juice and lemonade to replenish what the Lord and Kari's going to lose through sweat. It's important that they both drink a lot or they could just slip away," Babamon ordered the two younger digimon.

"Right!" The two shot to attention and answered before quickly heading for the door on their way to the kitchen.

"Take Gatomon with you," Babamon added, pointing to the partner digimon in question.

"I'm not going… anywhere…" Gatomon insisted with a shaky tone. "I'm staying… with Kari…"

"No, you're not. You spent the whole day wandering around the city, using up a lot of your energy, and now you're being bombarded by this incredible heat. You won't last another few minutes in this room, and Kari doesn't need to take care of another patient in addition to the Lord and herself," Babamon raised multiple valid points.

"I… I…" Gatomon found it incredible difficult to think of an argument against such truths with her tired, sweat soaked brain.

"It's okay, Gatomon. You're the one who's been working hard all day and needs a break. Besides, I'll just consider this another one of those trips Mimi makes Sora, Yolei, and I take to the spa saunas every few months," Kari reassured her partner with a smile as she motioned for her to leave.

"If you… say… so…" Gatomon's speech began to break up even more. At that point she would have accepted any argument or suggestion that got her out of that room.

"Okay, let's get going," Rosemon smiled as she lifted Gatomon up and quickly exited the room behind FlameWizardmon.

There was silence for a few seconds after the three left as Babamon kept switching her focus between Kari and her master. She calmly watched Kari pull the dry washcloth from the Emperors head and quickly rewet it before returning it to him. Seeing that the girl could in fact do her job of caring for the lord she finally decided to speak up and say what she had been waiting to.

"Unfortunately, with the Flame Emperor sick I have to call an emergency meeting to secure the kingdom. We can't be sure of how long he'll be out so it's best to prepare incase word of his incapacitation spreads beyond the four of us," Babamon sighed.

"Is that something you really have to worry about?" Kari looked at her with great concern.

"Yes. While the continent of Network seems peaceful from the outside, it's really a powder keg ready to go off with a certain spark," Babamon responded with a tired sigh.

"A certain spark?" Kari further questioned as she checked on the washcloth again.

"Each area wants to invade and take over the other, but they maintain a façade of peace because of the simple fact that each of the ten areas has an incredibly powerful ruler. No area's willing to attack another because they know it would be met with a response from said ruler. And even in the case that one ruler was able to defeat another, they would have been so weakened in the fight that they could be crushed easily by another ruler," Babamon continued to explain.

"So the spark that can light everything up is one of the rulers being unable to fight," Kari looked into the boys face with an increased respect for his importance to his empire and the peace of Network. And it probably wasn't just Network, but the whole of the Digital World as well.

"Yes. Our empire is the biggest among all of them, so each area's always looking to take a bit of ours. But thanks to our size we have plenty of resource and personal, so we could hold off even an attack by a ruler for a time," Babamon reassured the girl with a smile before making her way toward the doorway.

"One last thing, Babamon," Kari called to her with a wanting look.

"What is that, dear?" Babamon smiled back at her.

"Earlier you said this happened to him once before. When was that?" Kari inquired, wanting to know all the circumstances behind the incident she was now dealing with.

"It was many years ago… on the day he changed and began moving away from us…" Babamon's tone turned sad in the same way her granddaughters had when talking about the same incident.

"…" Kari couldn't find the words to speak after hearing that.

"He was already burning up when he returned to the castle that rainy day. He was stumbling and his armor was in tatters and his eyes had turned that sickly blue. And even after the fever broke… It was as if he hadn't returned…" Babamon's voice began to choke up before she stopped talking altogether. The old woman felt she had an image to uphold, and letting someone hear her cry or whine wasn't something she would allow.

"…" Kari still couldn't find the words to comment or help Babamon.

"Take care of him," Babamon shook her grief from her body and quickly left the room.

"I will," Kari promised her before it became only her and the boy in the room.

* * *

Five hours had crawled by at an agonizing pace. Every half an hour Gatomon, Rosemon, and FlameWizardmon, would stop by to drop off a cool pitch of lemonade and replenish the bucket of water with spring water.

"You've been at this for a long time, Kari. It might be a good idea if you took and break and got something to eat and some time away from this heat," Rosemon remarked as she set the pitcher of lemonade down on the table before she poured two glasses.

"Thanks. Just a few more hours and I'll take a break… I promise," Kari weakly smiled at her as she thanked her for the glass of juice she handed her.

"Are you sure?" Gatomon scrutinized her partner's tired face. She could see that Kari was already showing signs of fatigue, and after five hour in the blistering heat she couldn't blame her.

"Yes, I can still take care of him for a while longer," Kari insisted on keeping her promise to Babamon to look after him.

Kari got up and stretched her body while Rosemon carefully poured lemonade into the mouth of the Flame Emperor who despite his nearly unconscious state quickly swallowed it down as fast as he could. It took only a minute to down the whole thing before Rosemon wiped the excess of his lips with a cloth and returned the glass to the table.

"Okay, if you think you can continue to hold on we'll check on you again in an hour," Rosemon gave in as she picked up one of the empty pitches and headed out the door with Gatomon in tow.

* * *

Another two hours passed by, bring Kari's total exposure to seven so far, but she still held on. Gatomon and Rosemon had left only a few minutes ago, but not before getting Kari to promise that she would take a break after their next return.

"What am I supposed to do?" Kari questioned no one as she leaned over the bed and stared into the Flame Emperors face contorted in a fevered dream.

"Just tell me what I need to do," Kari begged of him this time. She didn't want to leave him while he was in his condition, but the others would leave her with no choice when they returned. "How can I help you? How can I bring you back into the light?"

The utterance of that last word. Her word. Her crest. Her power. Somehow it spoke to her and moved her body, as if answering her plea and guiding her.

Under the direction of her inner power she placed her hand over the middle of his chest. It was hot to the touch at first, but cooled off after a few seconds of contact to where she didn't even notice it. In a flicker of pink light from under her hand the cooling sensation quickly began to spread throughout the boy's body, bringing peace to his mind.

"It's working… whatever I'm doing…" Kari stared at the strange event taking place before her. She didn't understand how it was happening, or how she was doing it; she just knew that if she kept it up everything would be alright.

She kept that mentality strong as the heat in the room started to die down, but it was just as easily shattered when a loud roar sprang to life in her mind. It was terrible and angry, and it filled her with fear; and it was that fear that led her to make a serious mistake. With a jolt of fight or flight instinct she jerked her hand back and off of the boy's chest. Instantly, there was a searing bite of heat in the hand that quickly chewed its way up her arm and spread throughout her body, swallowing her up in crashing waves of heat that forced her eyes and senses shut.

* * *

It only took a matter of seconds for the roaring heat around her to finally stop its assault on her, but with her empty lungs crying for cool breathable air and her flesh aching as if sunburned the seconds crawled so slowly by. When the intense heat finally subsided her lips opened and pulled in breathes of air, thick with heat and tasting of salt from the sweat dripping down her face and over her lips. Once her lungs were refilled she slowly opened her eyes, which quickly began to water and sting as their fragile surfaces were attacked by the oppressive temperature.

"So hot…" Kari tried to whimpered, but the act rapidly soaked up the liquid from her mouth and throat, turning her voice raspy and painful. Seeing what talking brought to her health she quickly sealed her dry lips to block out as much heat as she could, while at the same time making a mental note to herself not to open her mouth again unless it was very important.

Trying her best to ignore the heat, an impossible task for anyone but fire itself, she began looking around the room again. It took barely a second for her to make a startling discovery about her surroundings. She was no longer beside the Flame Emperors bed, but instead standing amongst the rubble of some building. Shattered chunks of pure white stone rose out of the ground around her as if the building had collapsed around her, drawn down to its center by some force of impact. The remnants of whatever structure she was standing amongst towered a few hundred feet above her, only terminating at a pitch black sky.

"_Where am I…? How did I get here?"_ Kari contemplated the situation over in her head, but a when a more pressing matter pushed itself into her thoughts she started looking around frantically. _"I need to get out of here!"_

After a few seconds of searching she found a break in one of the stone walls that gave her hope. The crevice was just big enough for her squeeze through if she held her breath. A few feet in it became pitch black and all she could hope was that it didn't just dead end and trap her. Taking a blind bend in the darkness luck proved to be on her side when red light could be seen at the end of the corridor.

"_Finally!"_ Kari redoubled her effort, spurred on by the prospect that she'd be free of the cramped dark space in a matter of seconds if she hurried. With a tired smile she burst out of the break and out onto a crack ridden surface of the same white stone that had surrounded her, except this one laid almost flat with the ground and was quite large in size; however, it wasn't the size of it that made Kari's eyes open wide in surprise. No, what grabbed her attention and dragged it into a mixture of shock and fear was something the white walls had hidden behind them. All around her an expansive field of broken white stone monuments stretched out for miles, right up to walls of raging flames, burning hundreds of feet into the sky.

"_This is impossible… Is that why it's so hot here? No… This heat's the same as the Flame Emperors… it just doesn't feel like it's being generated by those flames… no matter how weird that seems…"_ Kari gathered her senses and made some quick observations. _"It's so strange… but it feels like those flames don't belong here…! What was that!"_

A flash of silver light had been caught at the corner of her eye and she quickly tried to lock onto its origin. At this point she didn't care what had made it, just that it was something that wasn't the black sky, or the orange flames, or the white stone; it was something different, and possibly a lead.

"_Over that way,"_ Kari managed to catch the silver flicker again and began to run to the source, but before she could she had to throw her body into a full stop. With her momentum she found it difficult to stop quickly on the slick, almost ice like surface of stone, and was forced to throw her entire body down to increase her resistance.

"No…!" A grunt escaped Kari, taking more precious water from her with it, as her legs went over the edge of the surface and dropped weightlessly through empty air dragging her body along with them.

Over the hidden cliff side she went and down thirty feet, the whole time fearing that she was going to be dashed against jagged stones below. However, her reality proved much kinder as she impacted somewhat softly into pure white sand.

It took Kari a few minutes to push herself up out of the sand. At first the delay was due to the wind being knocked out of her, but that only accounted for the first minute, the ones that followed were due to the comfort the sand brought. In steep contract to the burning air the sand was cool to the touch, bringing with it relief from the heat.

"_I have to get up!"_ Kari told herself after lingering in the cool sand for a full five minutes; so with a bit of renewed strength thanks to some relief from the heat she pushed herself up and back onto her feet.

The landscape around her had changed a bit from what she had seen from above. Behind her the fractured structure she had fallen off of rose up to form a craggy cliff side of sharp white rock, warning away anyone who might want to climb it. Ahead of her a desert of white sand stretched out; however, she wasn't able to judge how big it was thanks to multitude of large jagged pieces of white rock sticking up out of the sand. The pieces before her were much smaller in size than what she had been walking on before, each was only about twenty to thirty feet, but that was only what was sticking out of the sand; she guessed that some of each was buried beneath the sand. How much, she couldn't tell. The rocks when combined created a visual wall that prevented her from seeing deeper into the desert.

"_I've got to find the source of that flicker of silver,"_ Kari told herself as she began to trudge through the shifting sand.

The cool sand washing over her bare feet did little to comfort her from the burning hot air; but despite the heat and difficulty of walking across the crumbling grains of stone she carried on. She wandered through the forest of stone jutting out of the white landscape, making observations about what she was seeing to keep her mind off of more troubling thoughts.

"_It's strange… but I'd swear that some of these rocks look they fit together. Could they have been-!"_ Kari's thought was suddenly cut off when she fell forward. On instinct she planted her knees in the sand to stabilize herself, but when she did she found that her angle was wrong and she was still falling forward.

It took Kari a second to realize that she had been so distracted by looking up at the fractured tops of the large rocks that she had failed to notice that the ground had begun to slope downwards. Assessing the real problem she leaned back until her back was in the sand. The act stopped her from falling forward, but the natural slope and loose ground did nothing to stop her from sliding further down the slope. Luckily, fifty feet down her downward slide came to a stop when she landed on a leaning piece of the white rock from before.

"_Good thing this rock was here. I don't even want to think how far I would have slid if it wasn't,"_ Kari smiled at her bit of luck. The rock Kari and come to a stop on was about a hundred feet long and stretched out over the deepening sinkhole like an air bridge to nothing. _"I guess I was wrong about those rocks only being a few feet bigger beneath the surface of the sand. They're just like icebergs in the ocean, with ninety-percent of them being hidden beneath,"_ she thought to herself as she walked towards the end protruding over the air.

"_Is it a sinkhole?"_ She eventually got to the tip and stared out over the desert sloping towards the center. From where she was she could look back up the slope she had slid down, knowing that she'd never be able to ascend its crumbling walls back to the top, so she turned her gaze to the only direction still available to her. All around her see could see ledges similar to her own running down the sloped walls, but all of them were beyond her reach, except for one much further down from her. Deciding that it was best to stay at the elevation she was at she followed the slope down with her eyes until they reach the bottom; another two hundred feet down.

"What the…?" Another two words escaped dry mouth as she found the bottom of the sinkhole. When she first found it she had been unsure of what she was seeing thanks to the rippling hot air and distance, but when she looked long enough she was able to make it out. No… them out.

"_Are those people?"_ Kari questioned what she was seeing.

At the very bottom of the pit ten blurry figures bathed in black and red shadows stood in a loosely circular gathering. She could make out the shapes of human bodies and bits and pieces of the clothes they were wearing, but that was the best she could manage. Suddenly a flicker of silver light jumped from the back of the one closest to her, illuminating a long metallic object strapped to their back.

"_Maybe they can tell me where I am. And help me get out of here?"_ Kari thought while in the back of her mind her brain tried to place the shape of the metal object. For some reason it seemed so familiar; however, before she could place it her lips began to move and call out. "HELLO. Can you help me?"

The moment the last word left her lips her brain made the connection it was looking for and she understood why the object looked so familiar; and not just the object, but the silhouette of the one holding it.

"_The Flame Emperor!"_ Kari gasped and shrank back from the edge slightly. However, if she was planning on hiding she didn't do it fast enough, because hearing her words he twisted around and locked his glowing blue eyes onto her. Instantly, she felt the crushing force she had felt the first time he had looked at her as it her took legs out from under her and she sank to her knees.

"_What did FlameWizardmon call this force… Killing intent!"_ Kari felt her heart jump into her throat at the realization. Before, she hadn't considered what those words truly meant. That first day she hadn't known how powerful the Flame Emperor truly was, but now she knew, and now she didn't have an attendant or Gatomon to protect her from him.

For a few seconds there was complete silence as Kari dragged herself back from the edge by her arms. The strange quiet was of little comfort to her since despite it her legs were still numb and the pressure pressing down on her wasn't going away. However, in the face of all her body was being put through she kept one thought prevalent in her mind. She had to get away.

Before Kari could even drag herself twenty feet from the edge the silence was broken by a snap of metal and air pressure. Things went silent again for a few seconds as Kari tried to listen for any indication of what the sound was and if it pointed to someone approaching her. Suddenly, there was a burst of increased heat around her that felt like it was rolling up from below.

"_So h-o-t…"_ Kari gave silent words to the cries of her body.

However, if she felt that the heat had gotten as bad as it could, she would be proven wrong a second later. There was a sudden concussive explosion of pressure and sound before a blast of concentrated flames tore through the tip of the long stone structure and arched into the black sky; vanishing into its deep reaches like the twinkle of a red star. Just the touch of the shot had blown the first ten feet of the white stone landing into debris before turning it into molten rock and ash.

"What was that!" The surprise of the pillar of flame tearing apart the solid stone as if it were paper was enough to make Kari forget to keep her words to only thoughts. Her punishment for the slipup was the increasingly intense heat pouring down her throat and into her lungs, bringing with it painful twinges.

Ignoring the pain in her chest Kari quickly redoubled her efforts to escape down the shrinking structure. Using the white hot molten rock dripping off of the end as a reminder of what awaited her if she moved too slowly she managed to get another twenty feet back before a second rush of heat swelled from beneath and the structure shrank by another ten feet.

Another blast of heat poured off of the attack and lingered long after it had burned out somewhere in the black sky. _"It keeps getting hotter… every time that hapopens…"_ Now even Kari's thoughts were starting to breakdown under the onslaught of heat.

"_Need to… keep… mov… ing…"_ Kari tried to string together a thought to keep her progressing, but between the aching of her head, strange chills rolling through her body, and the ever present thirst, it was no easy task. She had already entered the second stage of dehydration at the mercy of incredible heat, but knowing that death awaited her she hesitated she forced herself onward.

Again a blast burned through the end, but this time Kari hadn't escaped far enough and she was caught in the air currents it kicked up. The hot gusts lifted her a few feet into the air and threw her back. She hit the white stone surface with a pained grunt and began sliding across it on her back. She grunted again when she impacted the wall of pure white sand and sank beneath it a little. The cool grains pouring over her brought enough relief to her skin to temporarily shake her free of the symptoms of dehydration. With bit of reclaimed clarity Kari quickly dug herself out and focused on the seventy or so feet that still remained of the stone structure.

"_Now what?"_ Kari cried into the reaches of her mind. She already knew that she couldn't ascend the slope of sand, and below her was whatever was attacking her. She was completely stuck and hope was fading fast.

*Boom…* *Boom…* *Boom…*

Her thoughts of escape plans quickly cut out as a heavy muffled sound crept into her ears.

"_Are those… are those footsteps! Large footsteps!"_ Kari did her best to sort out the heavy dull thumps which grew louder with each one. _"It's coming…"_ she concluded, her wide eyes focused on the smoking end of the landing.

*Boom…* *Boom…* *Boom…*

The footsteps continued to get closer and closer, eventually drowning out the loud beating of Kari's heart. With each louder step the heat also grew and soon was canceling out the relief of the cool sand at her back.

"_They stopped…?"_ Kari remarked to herself as she wiped the sweat out of her eyes. She had been fighting the urge to clear them for a long time. She hadn't wanted to obscure her vision for even a few seconds, but when the salt in her sweat began to sting her eyes and blur her vision she was forced to act.

Before Kari could even pull her hand from her eyes and brush away the sweat the stone landing suddenly shook violently. The vibrations were shallow, as if they had originated at the far end; but what truly made them scary was the fact that only solid land she could find was beginning to tilt downward. It continued to do so until finally stopping at a ten degree slope downhill. It was enough for Kari to keep her foothold but it would become difficult if it increased by anymore.

However, Kari was oblivious to the new slant of the land. Her attention was now completely focused on the curtain of smoke pouring off of the end. To be more accurate her attention was actually focused on something within the coiling smolder. Something big was resting on the end, just slightly over the end that had been blown away.

"_What is that…" _Kari's mind and eyes fought to make sense of what she was seeing while holding off the increasing pain in her head and body being induced by the growing heat.

"_Is… is that… a HAND!"_ Her assessment came when the object readjusted five appendages attached to it, apparently as it regripped the edge for what it did next. In the next second the shadow of the hand in the smoke grew taller as the forearm and elbow raised up and the weight on the end increased. Again the structure shook violently and the downward slope increase, this time forcing Kari to push back into the sand to that she could hold traction and not slide down into whatever was coming.

"Ooooohhh…" A scared moan escaped her lips as the figure hoisted itself up onto the landing with her. The thing before her was massive, a couple stories high and bulky with what looked like thick armor; but the worst of it was that the feeling of killing intent emanating off of it was so powerful that the air choked up in her lungs.

The stone structure rocked slightly when the thing took a step forward, sending small avalanches of pure white sand sliding down the slope. Kari couldn't think or do anything as the hulking figure approached her. The pure terror it instilled in her was too much to overcome and made her contemplate the idea that it was just time to give in. She would have continued to think that way if it hadn't been for a moment of clear thought and realization.

"I know you…" Kari coughed out as she stared up at the figure hidden in the smoke with a more focused look. In that clear moment of thought she had finally placed the shade before her. "You're the thing… I saw behind… the Flame Emperor…" At the utterance of her words the figure jerked forward, planting a hand covered in crimson and gold armor outside the smoky curtain before pulling its upper half out. The things helm and armor closely resembled the ones the Flame Emperor wore, but its suit was much larger and thicker; it also didn't have a single open joint on it unlike the Emperors.

"RAAAWWHHHH" The armored dragon knight digimon roared at Kari, sending out waves of heat and pressure that crashed down on her.

In the face of the pure anger being directed at her Kari tried to force herself back into the sand, but after a few inches the loose grains rejected her and left her with nowhere to retreat to; while ahead of her the armored dragon continued to crawl closer to her on all fours.

"_What do I do? What do I do?"_ Kari screamed into her mind, cleared by the massive amounts of adrenaline being pumped in by her fight or flight instinct. She dug at the sand with her hands, trying to get up the slope, but her panicked attempts all ended in failure and with her back on the stone surface.

"_Wait… This is what I wanted… isn't it…?"_ She stopped struggling to escape and turned to face the approaching monster. _"I wanted to confront this thing. I wanted to pull the Flame Emperor away from its grip."_

With pure terror still pumping through her veins Kari used all of her will power to force herself up on her feet. She instantly began to sway uneasily on her feet, but she kept herself standing despite it. What concentration she could spare from keeping herself up she used to focus on the approaching dragon.

"What are you…?" Kari fought off the urge to faint or run.

"…" The dragon's only response was to growl at her as it continued to close the distance between it and her; but the fact that she wasn't trying to run anymore seemed to have slowed its advance.

"I said… WHAT ARE YOU?" She shouted, not caring about the pain the heat pouring into her dry lungs caused.

"…" Again the monster didn't respond.

"_This isn't the right way to do this… I can't confront it for him…"_ That sudden realization came across Kari as she leaned to the side and tried to look past the large metal dragon warrior.

"_I'm going to need everything I have left,"_ Kari said to herself and she summoned up as much strength as she could, preparing for what came next.

She stood perfectly still as she waited for the creature to get close enough, and when it finally did, she acted. With a roar the monster lunged at her with an outstretched arm, ready to crush her in its grip; however, she had a different idea. The moment it went for her she jumped to the side, over the edge of the stone structure, and crashed into the sand. Using the force of gravity to assist her she tumbled and rolled down the sand slope, trying to put as much distance between herself and the angry dragon as she could.

Calling up a burst of her remaining strength Kari buried her feet hard in the sand and got herself upright, stopping her rolling descent down the slope and turned it into a sloppy run. She tried to let gravity do most of the work for her in an attempt to conserve what little energy she had left, but her head was already starting to pound and her vision was blurring. She knew she wasn't going to last much longer; but she didn't have to. Her target was only a few feet ahead of her now.

"HELP!" Kari gasped against the hot air as she reached out for the Flame Emperor.

She knew she couldn't combat the monster chasing her, but she also knew that the Flame Emperor could; at least she hoped he could. She wanted to believe that he could, because if he couldn't, she was in serious trouble.

Kari ran right into the boy and buried herself in his chest as she begged of him, "Please! You have to help me!" Despite the words that would have turned any boy into her protector, this one barely acknowledged that she had even made a request.

She prepared to make her request again, but when she looked up into his face the words caught in her throat. The emotionless face was something she was already prepared for, but the brown eyes devoid of life were not. Kari had expected them to be the sickly blue or the soft brown she had seen before; however the eyes she saw now made her question whether or not she could reach him and if she had made a mistake.

She stood there staring into his eyes and using his unmovable body to keep herself up as she tried to figure out what to do next. For a brief second her eyes wondered from his and swept across the other nine gathered at the bottom of the sink hole, but before she could even get a clear image of the first a loud crash from behind her twisted her head around.

The armored dragon had already turned itself around and crash to the sand as it began its pursuit of the girl who had escaped it. As it charged down the slope it tore at the sand and rocks angrily while constantly giving off a blood curdling roar. Kari didn't know if it was her escape or the fact that she was touching the boy, but she did know that it was truly out for blood this time.

"There's no time left! Please! You need to face that!" Kari gave up on begging and shouted into his face. Her harsh words managed to shake a blink of the eyes from the boy. It was something, however, it wasn't going to be enough to save her or free him.

"DO-" Kari tried to scream at him, but before she could even get out anything but the first words she felt the strength go out of her legs and arms and she collapsed onto her knees. Her fall to the ground was only halted by her shoulder catching above his knee, leaving her bent over oddly with her head dangling towards the ground.

Her heart was beating so fast and her lungs were trying to keep up the pace, but where only succeeding in causing her more pain. Her head was screaming at her as the world spun around her, while the whole time her mouth and throat begged for even a drop of water. The horrible feelings running through her body made her question whether it would be easier to surrender to the blackness then to continue to fight to stay awake; but the idea that surrender meant death fought its way to the forefront of her mind and set her lips moving again.

"DO SOMETHING!" She demanded, unable to lift her head and direct her words at him.

Those were the final words she would manage before the dragon was upon her, its large hand reaching out to crush her. She felt her body tighten against the assault of heat pouring off of it, fearing how hot the things actually touch would be.

*BOOM*

There was a sudden impact of metal against metal before a wave of hot air crashed against her back. Turning her head as far as she could and rolling her eyes to the side she managed to get a blurred view of behind her. The creatures arm was extended towards her, the hand open and ready to crush her; but pressed into the palm, keeping it at bay, was the Flame Emperors own hand. Once again he had saved her at the last moment.

The one problem now was that the unfocused look in his brown eyes had barely weakened and she wasn't sure if he would protect her a second time. She needed to take the few seconds his intervention had bought her and make them count.

"Your name…" Kari tried to shout, but her dry throat choked out the volume of her voice, making it crack and burn.

With a low growl the large dragon pulled its arm back and prepared to grab at her again; and this time Kari had no guarantee that the Flame Emperor would defend her again.

"_Wait… he's not just the Flame Emperor. He's human just like me. I have to stop thinking about him as anything else…"_ Kari's mind locked onto the idea that the reason why she was failing to reach him was that it was her own thinking that was getting in the way. She had sworn to save the boy, but she had never stopped thinking of him as a powerful being. He wasn't some monster wrapped in human flesh, but a person who could have the same fears and weaknesses as her.

Pulling together strength she didn't have Kari forced herself back onto her feet and threw her arms around his neck. She hugged him tight and spoke to him gently. "My name is Kari Kamiya… I made a mistake… I shouldn't have gotten scared… and pulled my hand back when I was trying to save you… But please… If this has to be the end for me… Please… don't let it be the end of you… Don't be afraid to be you…"

With those final words Kari's body gave out and the darkness of her mind rolled over her. She fell back unconscious in the sand as the Flame Emperor's eyes followed her the whole way. Sensing the surrender of the girl the dragon went into attack mode to finish her.

"Ta… Tak…" The Flame Emperor's lips whispered as the life slowly returned to his brown eyes. As Kari's slipped away, his consciousness began to return. "Takuya!" He suddenly stated as his reach back over his shoulder.

"TAKUYA KANBARA!" He screamed as he pulled the sword from his back and swung it. The next sound was a piercing ring of metal followed by a loud pained roar.

"EmperorGreymon…" Takuya growled as he glared at the spirit of flames ultimate form as it painfully held the wrist where he had cleaved off its hand with his sword. The hand crashed down into the sand a few feet away after a couple of seconds.

"This is enough…" His eyes glanced down at the girl at those words before returning to his wailing spirit. "This was my fault, and you kept me moving despite that. But now it's time for you to rest and for me to take back over."

Those were all the words it took for EmperorGreymon to fall silent and center its gaze on its partner. It stared at him as the focus slowly returned to its blue eyes.

"Sleep again and let me handle it from here," Takuya said with a soothing tone, making EmperorGreymon slowly sway and close its eyes.

The moment its big blue eyes shut the world of white earth and black skies vanished; and one of the long forgotten legends of the digital world returned.

* * *

To be continued…


	7. Return of a Legend

**Chapter 7**

**Return of a Legend**

"Takuya Kanbara," the Flame Emperor mumbled from his kneeling position on the floor as the hazy world around him returned to his eyes. The brown orbs looked around, taking note of the surroundings he hadn't seen with his own eyes for many years.

He looked around the room with a confused expression for a few seconds before a single fact began to set in on him. He was truly seeing the world again. No longer was his body moving on autopilot at the mercy of the lost Spirit of Flames. Freedom was his again, even if he couldn't remember much of his enslavement.

"This is my room in the Sanctuary… How did I…? The last thing I remember…!" Takuya's eyes suddenly widened and shifted downward.

On the ground before him lay the girl he had seen in his fevered dream. She lay there just like the last image of her he remembered from his dream. The dress and adornments were all the same, except the fabric was now soaked with sweat that leaked from her and pooled on the floor. For a few seconds he just stared at her drawing labored breathes that weakened with each passing inhale and exhale, trying to place her and what was wrong with the scene before him. Then, like a bolt of lightning it struck him.

"_She's burning up and by the looks of her she's lost a lot of water!"_ His eyes jumped up from her and began scanning the room. Thanks to his elemental attribute he couldn't feel the intense heat of the room, but he could definitely see the ripping air and rising steam that climbed the walls and pooled on the ceiling.

"I need to get her out of here! Now!" Takuya scooped her up in his arms and picked his sword off of the floor without dropping her. His eyes quickly ran along the walls, his mind trying to make some kind of connection with his memories, until they found what they were looking for and narrowed.

"I really hope I remember how to control this!" He growled as he pulled the girl tightly against him with one arm and used the other to point the large sword at a certain spot on the wall.

"DRAGONFIRE CROSSBOW" He roared as the sword opened and discharged a powerful blast of flames right into the wall.

* * *

After leaving Kari to watch over the Emperor for the fourth time the three digimon had settled into the large castle's kitchen. Row after row of black marble countertops ran down the middle of the room while lining both walls were many wood stoked ovens and stoves, cooling after the breakfast rush an hour ago. In a few hours they would be started up again to prepare lunch; but for now Gatomon, Rosemon, and FlameWizardmon were using it as a place to relax and brew up cool lemonade to replenish Kari and the Emperor's electrolytes and liquids.

"You looking kind of nervous," Rosemon leaned over the stone kitchen counter and examined Gatomon's expression.

"Of course I'm nervous. I just left Kari alone with a guy whose fever is literally turning his room into a sauna. At any moment it could get too hot and she could pass out. She could even…" Gatomon cut herself off with a grim look, unable to force herself to say the word, die. "I should be doing something to help. And I shouldn't have left her up there again."

"First off, you are doing something to help. She needs this lemonade to cool off and replace what's she's losing through sweat. The same with the Emperor. Second, staying in a room that's quite a few degrees warmer than an oven is a lot less of a challenge for her than it is for the digimon wearing a permanent fur coat," Rosemon responded, waving the large wooden spoon she had been using to stir the lemonade a few inches from Gatomon's nose.

"I guess you have a point. My fur's still frizzy from the few minutes I was last in there, and my heads finally stopped spinning from the heat," Gatomon begrudgingly admitted to the floral digimon's viewpoint.

"She does. And don't forget this is what Kari chose for herself, so as her friend and partner you need to continue to back her up," FlameWizardmon remarked as he set another crate of lemons down on the counter.

"Good," Rosemon smiled as she pulled a few of the fruit from the box. "We just need to juice a few more and this batch will be-!"

Rosemon never got to finish as a loud boom echoed through the halls of the castle a second before the whole structure shook, sending tiny bits of broken stone raining down to the floor and counters.

"What the hell was that!?" Gatomon yelped as she steadied herself on the stool at the counter.

"I'm not sure," Rosemon turned her attention away from Gatomon and to FlameWizardmon who was staring up at the ceiling with a quizzical expression. "FlameWizardmon, is the castle under attack?"

"I… I don't think so…" FlameWizardmon mumbled as he continued to stare at the ceiling before a look of realization crossed his face and he jumped down from his stool. He took off for the door with a worried expression as he yelled over his shoulder. "That explosion came from the Sanctuary!"

"Kari!" Gatomon yelped as the words of the fiery digimon sent her into a panic and leaping down from her stool, knocking it to the ground in a clatter of hardwood against the stone floor.

The three digimon exited the kitchen and into the halls where different digimon ran about past them. Guards, maintenance crews, cleaning staff, and politician digimon were swarming about in a panic. The guards were heading towards the source of the explosion while others moved to secure the building and civilians.

"Stick close," FlameWizardmon instructed the two.

"Climb up," Rosemon knelt down and extended her arms to Gatomon, offering to transport her through the chaos on her shoulder.

"Right!" Gatomon quickly agreed, knowing that a small digimon like her could easily get trampled in the chaos.

Secured in their plan and direction the three stepped out into the chaos and began following behind a group of large guards, allowing them to plow the way for them.

"Rosemon! What happened?" A familiar voice called out over the crowds when the three got close to the stairs that led up to the Emperor's Sanctuary.

"Granny! We don't know, but we think it came from the Sanctuary," Rosemon turned and found Babamon riding on the shoulder of the Wargreymon who guarded the courtroom doors.

"That's what I thought. How could this have happened? Could someone have gotten this close to the castle again without us noticing?" Babamon obvious suspected that something had either gone horribly wrong or someone had just tried to assassinate the Emperor.

"Let's hope not, because with the Emperor sick he's defenseless," FlameWizardmon stated, a bit of panic cracking through his normally controlled demeanor.

With thoughts of danger threatening the Emperor and Kari the now group of five increased their speed and charged ahead. Soon they were at the stairs and could already spot burning flames flickering at the top. Ascending to the top floor it didn't take the five long to locate the source of the explosion. A large hole had been punched, more like melted, right through the wall of the Emperor's chambers and out into the hall. The inside of the room had been set ablaze, consuming everything that was capable of burning in red hot flames.

"KARI! KARI!" Gatomon frantically screamed into the flames, fearing that the worst had happened, as Rosemon fought to keep her from diving into the inferno.

"Wargreymon, go back down and gather a team together to put these fires out," Babamon instructed the mega as it passed her to Rosemon.

"Understood," it nodded in understanding before charging back down the stairs to get a crew to fight the fires.

"What happened here? Where are the Emperor and Kari?" Rosemon turned to FlameWizardmon who was blankly staring into the flames that were once the room he spent years keeping in order.

"I don't… I don't know…" He gasped back a response while trying to find any indication of the two.

"It starts in the room and goes straight through the castle to the outside," Babamon wasn't looking into the Emperors room, but to the hole on the other side of the hall. The same gaping hole in the wall had been burned through two adjacent room until stopping at one through which the light of the noon sun was pouring through. "This was caused by single intensely hot attack… fired from within the Emperors room."

"What? From within the room?" The three parroted back, something about the much older digimons words developing meaning within their minds.

"But the only thing out that way is…!" Babamon's eyes widened in realization before she tugged on her granddaughter's ponytail, forcing her to turn all the way around, and pointed towards the hole that led outside. "Through the holes. To the outside!"

Rosemon didn't dare pause to ask why of her family matriarch. She just obeyed and jumped through the first hole in the wall, across the room, through another hole and across another room before leaping out onto the roof of the castle.

"Straight ahead. To the Prism Springs," Babamon ordered. Something about the hole in the wall had told her exactly where they needed to go, and had somehow really excited her.

From one rooftop to the next Rosemon and FlameWizardmon leapt until they reached the back of the castle where a large field of green grass, encircled by trees ran up to the edge of a long tall wall of craggy rocks that made up the foot of the secondary mountain range. Moving beyond the trees there was a large pond of crystal clear water fed by the waters that sprung from the underground springs that terminated at the rock wall and leaked down its surface. The waters of the pond were so clear in fact that even at the deepest part one could see the bottom as easily as if one were looking through air.

On more than a couple occasions each of the digimon present, with the exception of Gatomon, had come out to this remote location to relax in the soothing cool waters of the mountain spring fed pond. They would normally marvel at its untainted beauty and the nature that surrounded it, but at this very moment, they stood on the banks watching something kneeling in three feet of the liquid. The something was actually two somethings. The first larger figure was cradling the second more petite figure, keeping its head just above the water and submerging the rest of the body, while they used their hand to scoop up water which they alternately poured over the seconds forehead or into their open mouth, doing the latter slowly so they wouldn't choke on it.

"Kari!" Gatomon yelped at the sight of her unconscious partner in the water.

She gave no regard to the waters as she attempted to jump from Rosemon's shoulder and run to her partner, but a quick flick from Babamon's broom and she was knocked to the side and into FlameWizardmon's arms.

"What are you doing? Kari looks hurt. I have to check on her," Gatomon growled at the one who had hit her and the one holding her alike.

"You're forgetting who's holding onto her," FlameWizardmon rejoined.

Taking a moment to collect herself Gatomon began thinking about the fact that it was the Flame Emperor whose arms Kari was in. His eyes were cast down and his head was lowered, allowing his long dark brown hair to spill into the water and twist about in the rippling crystal clear water. His sword was planted in the water a few feet from him and he was taking slightly exhausted breathes, obviously not over the ordeal he had just gone through, while on the shore none of them knew what to do. The four of them combined would never be enough to pry Kari from his arms, but somehow, the longer they watched him the less urgent things became. For some reason the fearful and unapproachable aura that often surrounded him was gone, and now it almost felt… inviting.

"My lord," Babamon jumped down from her granddaughters shoulder and took one cautious step into the water, caring nothing for getting her clothes wet. The Flame Emperor made no indication that he had heard her as he continued to pour water over the girl.

He dipped his hand into the water and cupped the liquid, lifting it gently up to the girl's lips, guiltily cursing at himself for mentally remarking on their softness against his hand, before he began slowly pouring it down her throat. Each time he did her natural reflexes would kick in and she'd gulp it down despite her nearly unconscious state, but this time the water got halfway down before the muscles in her throat seized and began moving in reverse.

Kari's consciousness returned to her as she tilted her head to the side and began to cough up the drink of water. As she cleared the substance from her throat she felt a hand press against her back and begin moving in circular rotations, trying to aid her in expelling the liquid from the lungs. Once they were clear she weakly rolled her head back and looked up into the eyes of the one holding her.

"Are you okay now? You don't feel dehydrated anymore, do you?" The boy looking into her face with great concern asked.

"…" Kari didn't respond to his question like he thought she would. Instead, she weakly raised a hand up and placed it against his cheek where she let it linger for a few seconds before raising it up a bit more and brushed a coil of his hair back behind his ear, allowing the light to cross his face and dispel the shadows. She then smiled and said, "You have amazing brown eyes, Takuya."

A line like that would normally make Takuya blush a deep red, especially coming from such a beautiful girl, but right at that moment, all he could do was laugh. It started quiet, but eventually grew into a deep chuckle as he threw his head back and felt the weight of many years fall away.

"Thanks, but I think that was supposed to be my line…" his gentle laughter finally came to an end as he returned his gaze to her, "Kari..." Somewhere within the minutes he had been staring into her sleeping face her name had come back to him. It was something to important for him to forget for long.

For a moment the two stared at each other, memories of the struggle against his Spirit of Flames slowly coming back in full detail. When they had thought about it enough they snapped out of their daydreams and turned their eyes to the shore. There, the four digimon stood, three of them watching with disbelieving and exuberant eyes. Seeing how he was acting a single idea had cross their minds.

"Lord…" The three whispered in unison in a wanting tone.

"Babamon. Rosemon. FlameWizardmon," he replied, his face turning expressionless, making the three sink away slightly. A second later his lips curled up at the ends, into a big smile, letting the joke end, and he said his first words to them in quite some time. "Hey, it's been a while."

"Takuya!" The three suddenly burst out in a joyous cry and began running toward him, splashing water about carelessly and almost stumbling with each step.

Seeing the three charging towards them with watery eyes Kari quickly lifted herself out of Takuya's arms and waded a few feet to the side on her knees. Her decision would prove to be wise and timely as the three lunged at the boy, driving him back into the water. Using his incredible strength Takuya quickly rose back up with the three clinging to him in tight hugs and a mixture of tears.

"We missed you so much," FlameWizardmon held tight and cried, completely shedding the cool and controlled demeanor he normally wore.

"You're back. You're back. You're back," Rosemon nestled her face into his shoulder and bawled as tears streaked down her face.

"We thought we had lost you," Babamon cried, giving into the pure joy she felt. As she had aged she began to feel that she wouldn't live long enough to see the return of his soul, but here was the moment she had prayed for night after night.

Takuya smiled down at three before glancing towards Kari who gave him a reassuring smile and nod through her own happy tears; seeing the joyful reunion of four beings that truly cared about each other was too much for her to hold back.

"I'm sorry," he wrapped his arms around the three and pulled them tightly against him. "I must have put you three through so much. I promise I'll make it up to all of you. To everyone my mistake hurt."

"You being back is more than we could ever ask from you in compensation," Babamon pushed off him slightly and cupped his cheeks. She was driven to stare into his eyes and drink up their color like a woman dying of thirst. The brown eyes mixed with orange were the sign of his consciousness, and his return to them.

"…Thank you…" He whispered as he hugged them tighter.

* * *

"I can't believe it…" Gatomon's voice was a confused mixture of anger and guilt. "Despite everything you said and how much the others praised him, I still thought he was a monster. Which isn't that difficult to understand when he had that dangerous aura around him all the time. But… but he actually seems really nice."

The whole scene with him in the water embracing his servants had been truly moving, but after hearing how Kari had saved him and how he had blow apart a section of his own keep to save her in return, had tipped the scales. There was also something about the guy that Gatomon just couldn't hate. His smile and attitude after regaining himself was so likeable that it nearly verged on the suspicious.

"I told you," Kari smirked at her partner as she carefully removed a new dress from the closest, making sure not to touch it against the soaking wet one she was wearing.

"Yeah, yeah, you did. But proving it almost killed you, so I wouldn't brag about it. And speaking of that… do you have any idea of what that place was? You never left the castle, but that seemed way too real to be a dream," Gatomon questioned her partner.

"I'm not sure, and right now I don't want to think about it too much. But I'm sure we'll eventually get the answer to that," Kari smiled as she removed the bracelets from her wrists and ankles and set them down on vanity table. "Okay, I'm off to the baths to get cleaned up."

"Right. And now that I can finally relax around here I think I'll get something to eat and look around some more," Gatomon nodded.

Even after Babamon had given them permission to leave and told them they were allowed to freely move about the keep and city, she had still felt tense and uneasy. The reason had been pretty obvious. The fact that they were still sleeping under the same roof as a being powerful enough to waste four mega digimon in a matter of seconds, who was also mentally unstable, was enough to make anyone nervous. However, now that he had returned to his sense and she had seen what the boy under it all was like; she finally felt that the danger had passed. Or at least the immediate danger had.

Kari left the room door open for her partner as she exited with the clean dress folded over the arm. When they had originally returned to the castle Rosemon had offered to take her to the baths and retrieve a change of clothes for her, but Kari didn't want to separate her so shortly after her reunion for something she could easily do herself.

The royal bathes she had been using for the last week wasn't that far from her room. After only a short three minute walk Kari found herself standing before the wooden doors, their size obviously limiting the size of being that could use the bathes down to the height of an adult human. Apparently the bathes weren't meant for most of that staff and occupant of the keep, which made sense since they were meant for the Flame Emperor… Takuya.

Pushing the door open Kari stepped into a small room of smooth polished stone sectioned off into six different areas, changing rooms, by wooden screens embossed with golden and ruby flames. Like she had many times in the last week Kari quickly walked to the last one on the left and slid one of the shutters closed. She emerged a minute later with only a towel wrapped around her and a small wooded tub or toiletries, leaving her new dress in the changing area for afterwards and tossing the tattered one in the hamper.

There was a refreshing burst of steam when she opened the doors to the bath. It wasn't the same stifling heat and sticky precipitation that she had been subjected to a short while ago. No, this was a welcome heat that seemed to relax the muscles and pull impurities from the skin.

"Ahhhh…" Kari sighed happily, already feeling quite a bit more refreshed, as she stepped inside and released the doors, letting them swing shut.

The bathes that stretched out before Kari were ones she never thought she'd see, let alone get to use. They were of grandiose design and size. The bathes had been built right over a large hot spring that pumped warm, pure, water up a rock formation which it cascaded back down in small waterfalls like some luxurious fountain. The rock formation was designed to look like a small island, well, a small island that was bigger than her parents apartment, floating in the middle of a bath, easily more than twice the size of an Olympic swimming pool carved out of the most expensive marble. Even living topical trees had been place about the island and around the bath to give it a more natural feel. To her it felt like taking a bath outside with all of the benefits of taking one inside.

Kari made her way to the edge of the water and stepped down into the shallow water. She hoisted up the bottom of her towel to prevent it from dragging in the water as she made her way into deeper waters, looking for a spot to sit on the edge of the island where the water was fresh and the perfect degree of heat for her.

"Soooo Peeerrrfffeeeccctttt…" Kari purred out as she shed her towel, draped it over the rock beside her, set her toiletries bin down in the water next to her, and settled down on a seat like rock submerged in the warm water.

"…It is pretty nice…" Takuya's voice shyly emerged from the steamy veil on her right.

"Yeah, it's a thousand times better than my bath at home. I can't even stretch out in the bath at-!? TAKUYA!" Kari yelped when she realized that she wasn't alone… and naked. To solve the last problem she quickly grabbed her towel and covered her front while backing up against the island to hide her back. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?"

"Hehe… hehe..." Takuya's voice nervously chuckled. "Taking a bath I guess… After the day I had, we both had, I really needed this. What did you think I was in here for?"

"Considering the reason I was originally told why I had been brought here, I thought you might be here to…" Kari's voice trailed off as she became too embarrassed by the idea to finish.

"The original reason why you were brought here?" Takuya's voice posed the question. Apparently, he had never been aware of why Kari had been brought to the castle. That, or he didn't remember much from the time he was possessed.

"I was broug- You never mind why I was brought here! If you were already in here, why didn't you say anything?" Kari quickly stopped herself from bring up the marriage and became defensive. She suddenly felt very angry and frustrated over what he didn't know.

"Yeah… sorry about that. I kind of saw you get in at the edge and I kind of freaked and hid… probably not the best reaction, huh?" Takuya sighed, feeling quite lame about the way he had gotten embarrassed and reacted.

"NO! No, it wasn't the best react…" Kari didn't know whether she should be angry, embarrassed, or both at the same time. "You should have said something, anything, if you saw me getting in!"

"Ahh… yeah… sorry about that…" Takuya's apologetic tone came from around the corner. "But to be fair, I didn't look. And I'm still covering my eyes despite the fact that there's about six feet of solid rock between us."

"Do you think that makes this whole situation any better?" Kari glared at the rocky face that made up the corner of the island, trying her best not to laugh at the playfully boyish tone he was now using.

"A little… maybe…" He sheepishly responded, a hint of a chuckle mixed in with the tone.

"No~," Kari whimsically retorted, obvious deciding that she couldn't be angry at him despite the situation.

"Soooo… what do you want to do about this?" Takuya inquired after a period of awkward silence.

Kari paused for a bit to think about some possible answers. The first thing that came to mind was one of them getting out, most likely Takuya since she had no intention of getting out of the water and chance him seeing her. However, what she wanted more than to end the embarrassing situation was to get some answers she had been looking for since she had first discovered that the Flame Emperor was human.

"Can we talk?" Kari came out and asked once she had made up her mind. She had dropped all of the annoyance, playfulness, and embarrassment in her tone and turned serious.

Takuya didn't respond right away, maybe he was questioning what she wanted to ask or what he felt like sharing, but either way he gave in with a, "Sure," after about thirty seconds of thought. "What did you want to talk about?"

For a bit Kari pondered whether her question should be more personal, she wanted to know more about the boy, or if she should stick to the mission oriented information. Eventually she chose a mixture of the two with the question, "Can you tell me how you ended up in the Digital World?"

"I'm guessing what you really want to know is how I ended up as the Flame Emperor with all of the power I wield," Takuya easily saw through a part of her question, but completely missed the fact that she wanted to know more about him. "It would be best if I start with the first time I came to the Digital World and end with what I can remember before waking up on the floor of my room with you."

"It all started when I was twelve. It was my little brother's birthday and my mother was running around getting everything ready when I got this mysterious text message asking me if I was ready to start an adventure, and of course being the kid I was I accepted without a single thought. What followed after that was..."

Takuya's story began in the most unlikely of places as the two prepared to fill each other in on their own adventures and trails. The story waiting to be told is a part of the Digital Worlds history that has been forgotten over the eons, but will lead to the events unfolding beyond the walls of the castle. For now thought, one must know the past before they can face the future.

* * *

To be continued…


End file.
